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Planning consideration

Allotments

Land used by communities for growing vegetables, fruit, herbs or flowers which is not for profit

Design stage
Co-design
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Legislation
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Expected number of records
Unknown
Frequency of updates
Every 6 months
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Technical specification
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Background information

Each planning consideration we work on passes through the stages of our design process, where we research and answer specific questions to help us collect more information.

Backlog

  • Who asked for 'Allotments' data?

    Identified by the Geospatial Commission as a national dataset to make data easier to find for the sector.

  • What is the driver for the request?

    Other

  • Which 2024 focus area does the request support?

    • Modern planning software
    • Other

Screen

  • What is the 'Allotments' consideration?

    An allotment is a piece of ground that you pay rent for, usually a fairly small annual charge, in order to grow your own produce. - RHS

  • Is there legislation that defines 'Allotments'?

    Yes

    • What is the legislation that defines 'Allotments'?

      Allotments Act 1922, Section 3, Paragraph 7 - "In this section the expression “allotment” means any parcel of land, whether attached to a cottage or not, of not more than two acres in extent, held by a tenant under a landlord [otherwise than under a farm business tenancy (within the meaning of the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995)] and cultivated as a farm or a garden, or partly as a garden and partly as a farm."

    • What is the specific part of the legislation that describes how a 'Allotments' gets designated?

      Not legislation, but found through parliament.uk. "Allotment sites owned by local authorities can be designated as 'statutory' or 'temporary' where 'statutory' sites are subject to some protection under the Allotments Act 1925. 'Temporary' sites have no security beyond the usual planning system requirements. As a result of these differences, the designation of a site is important to local authorities and allotment holders alike."

    • What is the specific part of the legislation that requires the publication of 'Allotments'?

      There is no specific legislation that requires the publication of allotment data.

  • Who, in law, is responsible for the planning consideration or makes decisions about 'Allotments'?

    "An allotment authority is the district council, Outer London Borough, or where there is a parish council" - parliament.uk

  • Which organisations do we think should publish the data?

    • Local authorities

  • Is the Allotments a trigger?

    Yes

    • What needs to be done because Allotments has acted as the trigger?

      Not necessarily a trigger, but it is generally understood that development on an alloment would require reprovision elsewhere to the same, or better quality and size

  • Is the Allotments something to consult during plan making?

    Yes

    • Provide information about when Allotments is used during plan making

      Yes, LPAs are required to ensure that there is sufficient provision of allotments to meet demand, particularly when planning for growth. There are widely used planning standards for allotments (e.g. hectares/1000 population)

  • Is there any Allotments data already available?

    Yes

  • Do we think the data should come from a single source?

    Yes, most likely OS

  • Will a data standard be required?

    No

Research

  • Do we understand the lifecycle of a Allotments?

  • Do we understand how the data is created/produced?

  • Where will or should the data be used?

    • Local plans - Allotments are occasionally referenced in local plans, so we think that this consideration feeds into the process of creating a local plan as provisions will need to be met.

  • Who are the statutory consultees for Allotments?

  • Other than the statutory consultees who are the primary users of Allotments? How do we expect them to use Allotments?

  • What are the planning needs for this data?

    LPAs are required to ensure that they provide sufficient allotment provision to meet demand, generally using agreed planning standards (e.g. hectare/1000 population). Statutory allotments will generally be on the proposals map

  • Who are the types of users who might benefit from having access to Allotments data?

  • What are some potential uses of Allotments data?

  • What's the value of adding Allotments data to the platform?

  • From what we have learnt so far are there any risks to making Allotments data available?

4 updates

  • Kieran Wint (05 September 2024)

    As per some research we did, summarised in this blog on an analysis of local plans and local area requirements, we think that this consideration acts as an INPUT to the process of creating a local plan.

  • Kieran Wint (04 September 2024)

    This data is currently nationally available as per the OS Open Greenspace dataset, which we will look to use initially.

    However, as a result of our research on open space typologies we will eventually look to collect this data from LPAs individually, with it encapsulating 'allotments, community gardens and community farms.'

  • elliotrowen (03 September 2024)

    Allotments are updated as part of the 'OS Open Greenspace' data set, which is updated every six months: https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/products/os-open-greenspace

  • Kieran Wint (12 August 2024)

    The identified data is published by Ordnance Survey, so it would be useful to know how they compiled this national dataset, or who the authoritative source of this data is.

Last updated: 2024-09-26 09:46:15