Land Ownership Mapping UK

Discussion

From a meeting in Totnes, UK, by Inez Aponte:

"The Land Ownership Mapping group had an energised and interesting discussion and has been making substantial progress since the Land Conference, largely because it brought together several people who have a great deal of experience and expertise in this area, and discussions have continued in person and by email.

They felt that more should be done to make information on land ownership freely available, and that they did not want the land registry (HMLR) to be privatised. The latter does not seem to be a live issue at present, but the former certainly is. They talked about having a land ownership map (a cadastre) available online, with the information made secure using the same blockchain technology as Bitcoin.

With regard to land ownership information, Kate Swade reported that Shared Assets is waiting to hear whether it has funding for a feasibility study into cross referencing Land Registry ownership data with other land information to create an accessible map-based tool for those looking for land.

This does leave the question of unregistered land, which comprises perhaps 32% of the total, much of which is in large parcels under single ownership and may have been held by the same family for many generations.

The group is refining a brief for a scoping study, has built links with the Land magazine and will seek funding for a scoping stage." (http://growinggoodlives.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/A-Land-Conference-Report1.pdf)

More Information

• If anyone would like to become involved in the project, or be kept informed as it develops, please contact

Andrew Shadrake [email protected]

• see also: Land Gift Movement