Allotments No 14 Allotment-seekers Search Solutions (ASS) - Taxation

For families allotments are living sustainability but for those seeking a plot there are some phenomenally long waiting lists for allotments in England! (See link below.)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/interactive/2011/nov/10/allotments-rents-waiting-list-england

This post is intended as a first attempt to see the development of a policy for a more sustainable England by ALAT, ie allotment land asset transfer. The intention is that suggested solutions for the reduction of allotment waiting lists are highlighted.

The problem is a marketing problem. A family has a need for fresh vegetables, fruit and (I dare add) flowers. English society tends to see a one-stop solution, a kind of systemic token rooted in values first developed in the 15th Century to 18th Century countryside when it was subjected to about 4,500 enclosures; namely, the "allotment".
Today we need a multi-stop of solutions. The following are merely suggestions:

• Yes, parish and town councils need to become more vigorous in their duty of seeking out patches of land for allotments - in recent times a large number are doing so -yippee.
• Yes, landed individuals should be encouraged to donate or dedicate land (even for short periods) as allotments.
• Yes, homeowners with gardens too big for them to manage should be encouraged to allow their gardens some TLC by allotment-seekers.
• Yes farmers should be encouraged to let land for allotments.
• Yes, business owners with land surplus to current requirements should be encouraged to allow their land to be used with TLC by allotment-seekers,
  
• Yes the government should be encouraged to encourage ALAT by tax breaks.

Taxation Planning  The ideas here are for the government and lobbyists:

1. Allotment Enterprise Zones (AEZs) - allocate neighbourhoods as AEZ where landowners who release land would be eligible to tax breaks and stewardship grants.
2. Council Tax /Business Rates Relief  Where a homeowner or business lets land as an allotment a local taxation relief is given - they are after all easing the dutiful obligation of the local authority.
3. Capital allowances: Where a homeowner / business installs capital assets - sheds, watering systems etc - capital allowances of a writing down type be given to encourage the allotments' longevity.
4. Balancing allowances/charges; Also these could be built into the allotment relief from income tax (ARFIT).
5. Inheritance Tax: Where a garden remains as allotments after the death of  the homeowner/ business/ farmer IHT conditional relief is afforded to the estate - this would be similar to the timber or heritage chattels conditional relief afforded to stately home and estate owners and others.
6. Inheritance Tax investment relief: In the past investment in agricultural land was afforded a IHT relief. Similarly development land, farmland and gardens could be afforded similar relief for as long as they beome and remain allotments - a kind of valuation relief.