Yesterday I covered the research and findings into our 130-year-old
history. Today I cover the actions we took to secure the allotments future.
ACV (Asset of Community Value) Under the Localism Act
2011 land or property of importance to a local community can be recognised
and provided with additional protection from development. Voluntary and
community organisations can nominate an asset to be included on their local
authority's ACV register.
I had come across this relatively new statute in two other
community projects and knew the value of registration. I established contact
with the National Allotment Society to enlist their help and learn what experience
allotments had with the new law. We were in fact one of the first allotments to
seek this status which to date had been mainly taken up by real ale pubs! Today
a growing number of allotments have registered as ACVs.
The Act only offers limited rights, but importantly puts a clear
stake in the ground, such that the land can’t be sold, developed, repurposed,
released without community consultation with the registered group who also have
a right to bid. There is also a moratorium period which reduces the risk of
being driven by other’s timescales and agenda. Importantly these rights are
diluted if obtained after a development proposal has been lodged. It doesn’t impact
the allotments rights under the 1925 statute but complements them. For
ourselves it was a case of stating who we were, the historic value to
community, the usage of the land, the benefits it gave al,l and importantly ensured
the land was correctly identified.
Each council will have its own process and any application must
pass several tests to be accepted. To say our submission was comprehensive is an
understatement. We ensured we ticked all the relevant boxes and supplied a host
of supporting material. The detailed ACV evaluation and grant by the Borough is
available on our website www.iodadas.com/legal-and-other-refernce
The Lease: I discovered quite by chance that Mudchute
Associates wished to extinguish their current 30-year lease early and seek a new
and longer term. Our ACV gave us the opportunity to place a foot in the Borough’s
door and seek our own lease arrangements and in doing so redress the debacle of
1994. I will spare the meetings, the elongated process that took place, having
to explain the Allotment statutes and ACV to some who had not heard of either.
At all stages we were advised and supported by the National Allotment
Society. The London Regional Representative also attended several our Borough
meetings. The key breakthrough came when others dug their feet in to try to
circumvent our involvement. We reminded all of the ACV and that brought everyone
back to the table.
It was going to prove fraught and complex to hold out for a
totally independent lease and we suggested the use of a Head lease with
subleases under it. We had many detailed discussions over some very contentious
issues. It was clear that this was a different type of lease with the Borough
holding the freehold and certain liabilities directly with the allotments,
whilst the head lease covered more of the farm business. Our sublease was to
all intent was somewhat an independent lease with stronger ties to the
freeholder and the head lessee who could take action against the allotments
with the full backing of the Borough, who were still bound by the 1925 statute.
To cut a long story short we agreed and signed off on formal terms of contract for
a lease. It was to be 99 year minus one day, peppercorn rent, self-managed,
recognised our statutory status and as long as we didn’t breach the lease, we
were secure. We even got assurances re transfer of the Head lease and in the event
that of the head lessee became insolvent, our sub lease would revert direct to
the Borough.
The protracted discussions would not have achieved what they
did without the free legal advice and support given by the National Allotment Society.
In June last year, the proposed lease framework for both the
Head Lease and our lease was proposed to the Borough cabinet by the Mayor and
passed.
The Society mandate: We kept all members informed
throughout the journey asked them to vote on the lease terms offered, the move
to an incorporated entity, as well as the constitutional changes we needed to
make. We needed to explain in detail the options, and specific steps. The votes
taken involved all members and easily achieved the 75% threshold required
within our constitution.
The Move to a Co-op: To hold a lease we had to be a
legal entity. There were several options ranging from a limited Company, to an incorporated
Charity, or even a Trust. None of these appealed. Limited companies can become fiefdoms
and directors can become once removed from shareholders. A CIO (Charitable
Incorporated Organisation) had an appeal over the CIC (Community Interest
Company) but allotments aren’t charities and it was felt we would be abusing
the ‘charity’ status. This was our opinion and we respected that many allotment
Societies have taken these routes.
We were about to give up when the National Society pointed
us to the new Cooperative opportunity under the new Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014, which
comes under the FCA mutual and society arm and not Companies House nor the
Charity Commission. Our membership agreed that the mutuality of a Coop was the
way to go and better still we could do this by going under the National Society’s
sponsorship and template Rules.
However, we didn’t wish to adopt the template Rules agreed
between the National Society and the FCA for sponsored entities. They would require
several amendments to fit and every line you altered cost money and had to be sanctioned
by the FCA. So, we had to get the mandate from the membership to transfer under
the template rules then immediately apply to the FCA for our amendments with
the associated formal approvals from our membership to be submitted and
sanctioned by the FCA. Once a registered company, this two-staged process was
free.
Again, we did it and got our FCA seal and formal approval on
the amendments. The Rules are important and the FCA scrutinises and ensures
that any Rule changes have followed due membership process and are acceptable
under the cooperative mutual approach. We also got the new Rules approved by
the Borough and Head lessee by adopting an open and transparent approach.
The hardest thing was moving the new Cooperative to a new Bank.
Several banks were unfamiliar with the 2014 statute and did not accept our ‘not
for profit’ status and wanted to charge us business rates to bank with them. Only
one bank recognised our FCA seal and number straight away and after checking
our documents, gave us free banking.
The journey was a hard one, took us four years but was well
worth it. We are secure from the developers who are building on the land around
us. We now have a very productive and new relationship with the Mudchute Farm
that is delivering the obvious benefits we never had. We can now seek to build
on our sponsorships and funding to help us with our environmental and community
outreach projects. Importantly, those members who follow us now have security
of tenure for their lifetime.
We just need to issue the member’s shares certificates and re
issue member’s packs, but until the virus eases, that is on hold.
I hope these two articles help others understand what can be
done and some of the options available. To date its cost us less than £100 in
registration fees with FCA and Land Registry. I cannot stress enough the
support, guidance and value the National allotment Society has given us.
