Keeping animals on my allotment.

[dabsisme]

Ok here we go.....

I keep hens at home but I want to keep them on my allotment so I looked in to it as I was told no by the committee, I looked at the new tenancy agreement we have to sign on april the 1st and it says...

(g) Not to keep upon the allotment any pigs, fowl or other livstock except so far as the same is permitted by Section 12 of the Allotments Act 1950 but this provision does not authorise any livestock to be kept in such a manner as to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance or in contravention of any statutory requirement.

I found out that in the Alloment act 1950 Section 12 is a rule that says you can keep chickens (only hens) and/or rabbits but the committee still said no when I put this to them....Here is what Section 12 says...

12. --(1) Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in any lease or tenancy or in any covenant, contract or undertaking relating to the use to be made of any land, it shall be lawful for the occupier of any land to keep, otherwise than by way of trade or business, hens or rabbits in any place on the land and to erect or place and maintain such buildings or structures on the land as are reasonably necessary for that purpose: Provided that nothing in this subsection shall authorise any hens or rabbits to be kept in such a place or in such a manner as to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance or affect the operation of any enactment.



So come on people someone on here must understand this more than I do and can push me in the right direction please.

Thanks for reading Dave.

[Eyren]

Hi Dave!

This is my reading of the matter - and I must stress that I'm not a lawyer!

"Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in any lease or tenancy or in any covenant, contract or undertaking relating to the use to be made of any land, it shall be lawful..."

http://www.gillhams.com/dictionary/431.cfm

As far as I understand it, this means you are legally entitled to keep chickens on your plot, regardless of any tenancy agreement clause to the contrary, unless there are any statutory requirements, health considerations, etc that over-rule the Allotment Act. So, you need to ask if there are any statutory restrictions on the keeping of hens on the allotment site, and what would be considered a health hazard or nuisance.

Note also that this section is headed "Abolition of contractual restrictions on keeping hens and rabbits" - which suggests that there were previously restrictions that have since been lifted!

I would also find out who the committee are responsible to, i.e. what higher authority you could appeal to if you decide to go ahead and challenge the committee's decision.

Hope this helps