Re: Half of England is owned by 1% of the population - just be careful what you wish for... Archived Message
Posted by John Monro on April 18, 2019, 9:52 pm, in reply to "Half of England is owned by 1% of the population"
England is the most densely populated country in Europe. One of the things that makes living in the country, which to be honest doesn't have the most congenial weather, is it's beautiful countryside and villages and towns and the ease of access of the population to these areas. For instance, rights of way allow walkers to enjoy other people's landscapes, just as much as the owners, and with no responsibility or expense. Green belts have helped constrained the growth of sprawl, a bit, but not enough. It's true it's under threat from intensive farming, insecticides and inappropriate housing and commercial development etc. But before people call for a wholesale confiscation or "deprivatisation" of land from its current owners we need to be careful what we might wish for. Many of the current owners actually are excellent custodians of the land, and have been for generations, and when such land comes on to the "market" as it were, there will be a lot of greedy people and businesses keen to make a killing from development. In the neoliberal economic system that still rules us, it could become a free for all, and ultimately we'd all lose rather more than we might gain. Nor would I trust a lot of socialists to do any better. Our "democratic" control could easily be subverted, as indeed our entire democracy has been. In addition, it doesn't need ownership of land to provide the necessary controls that the population need, for instance England's national parks are not "owned" by the populace, but that doesn't mean that landowners can do as they like. Wise legislation on its own can achieve a great deal. In regard to land holdings in developed areas, and cities, then such concerns wouldn't apply so acutely. In regard to Scotland, the concentration of ownership is an issue, but again it's lack of political leadership and controls and the short sightedness of so much legislation that allows this landscape continue to be degraded so a few rich people can spray the braes with lead shot and bullets and bulldoze roads through the countryside. some of these activities are already illegal. If stricter rules on this activity were introduced, plus requiring landowners to regenerate the landscape, a lot of this land would be sold off by its owners and the Scottish government could purchase this and then lease the land to suitable people, farmers and organisations. It also needs a fifty year national plan to regenerate the highly degraded ecology of much of Scotland,
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