Should we know who owns Britain?

Joe Wright, 10 December 2014

The lack of housing supply in the UK has been a problem since the late 1980s when local councils were prevented from building. Running up to the next election, all parties have pledged to find ways of increasing supply. During the conference season Labour promised to build an added 200,000 houses by 2020, the Liberal Democrats promised 300,000 a year, along with the creation of five new garden cities all connected by train. The Conservatives renewed their bid to shake up planning laws and, along with Ukip, pledged to find enough ‘brownfield’ sites for new developments (Ukip doing so whilst pointing to immigration as the issue). The government has already agreed to the creation of new garden cities near London, providing 50,000 homes.

Promises (and somewhat arbitrary numbers) aside, if you trace the housing debate, no matter which angle you approach it from, you will arrive at the same central issue preventing progress: land, or the lack of it. Finding land which owners are willing to build on, in areas people want to live (brownfield sites are so-called for good reasons), has been the biggest problem facing housing policy. Because houses in the most desirable parts of the UK are a commodity perpetually rising in valuable, it makes financial sense to hold off selling or developing the land for as long as possible.

The only way to solve what seems an intractable problem is shed more light on it, which is what the Scottish government is proposing. They have announced plans for legislation which will set up a Land Reform Commission. The new body will have the power to publish who owns land in Scotland and its value. It will also be able to order landowners to “remove” barriers to development. Proposed legislation could also limit companies that can own land in Scotland to within the EU. The government is currently consulting owners on the proposals.

The legislation is a response to revelations in January that just 432 people own half the privately held land in Scotland, much of it dominated by huge estates created for shooting and fishing. MSPs have called for a fairer distribution of land.

Would England benefit from the same treatment? There are some dangers. Places like London thrive on their reputation for being open; introducing similar legislation would send mixed messages about coming to the UK and buying a home.

But knowing who owns the land would help the housing debate to understand what it faces. No one wants government to decide who can own what. But knowing more about the nature of ownership in Britain, if used sensibly, will help to construct better policies, to create the right incentives for landowners with large holdings to sell up.