Doomsday 2000 - UK Land Reform for the Third Millennium

[tliouk <office@tlio.demon.co.uk>]

www.domesday2000.co.uk
Domesday 2000 is a body set up to encourage wide debate and analysis 
on one of the central issues of economic injustice in the UK: the 
holding of vast sections of the land mass of the UK by the 
Aristocracy. We're taking a more directly political line to Land 
Reform following up on our research and Kevin Cahill's work ("Who 
Owns Britain").
John Clancy
Domesday2000

>From the Website:
U.K. Land Reform for the Third Millennium 
- Bringing the Land Home

Millions upon millions of acres are held by a few (not good) men on 
the basis only that it has been inherited for centuries through their 
landed gentry families.

Domesday 2000 believes that some 200 men own some 33% of the UK land 
mass, through inheritance alone.

The problem appears to be that the actual details of ownership are so 
jealously and secretly held that precise figures are unknown - only 
estimates can be made.

In particular, it is now one of the main features of the constitution 
of the British Labour Party - its clause 4 - that 'Power, wealth and 
opportunity should be in the hands of the many, not the few'. It is 
one of Domesday 2000's aims to encourage the Labour Party to accept 
that land reform is central to its constitutional objects. 
Constituency Labour Parties and policy forums are to be encouraged to 
bring the issue of the return of this land, this wealth, to 'the 
many' to the fore and establish it as the policy of the party.

The return of the land will bring valuable capital and income flows 
to the exchequer (in the £billions), rather than to the personal 
wealth of a few men; and the consequent benefit to the community at 
large by such resources being at the disposal of a reforming Labour 
Government means that instead of this wealth being controlled by the 
decisions of a few aristocrats - it becomes wealth governed by 
democratic means, for the benefit of all. How this new wealth is best 
distributed is another issue for Domesday 2000

Initially the government needs to embark as soon as possible on an 
immediate Land Registry audit (the first part of a new DOMESDAY BOOK -
 the DOMESDAY 2000 book) of land either held directly or under the 
control of (e.g. by means of holding companies, in which the 
aristocrat has shares or over which he has effective control) the 
U.K. aristocracy. That land which is held by means of inheritance for 
centuries is the subject of return to the state. The intention is to 
force the disclosure of land ownership details in waves, initially 
with those named persons who are estimated to own most: basically 
those 200 men.

Immediate avoidance measures would need to be put in place putting a 
freeze at the land registry on the dealing in such land subject to 
the audit and the putting on notice of all purchasers of land or real 
property from those persons audited (or from companies over which 
they have effective control) that such dealings may be voided or 
subjected to punitive taxes effectively blighting this land on the 
land market for such time as the audit takes place.

Of immediate urgency is the bringing together of knowledge and 
expertise in this area. Domesday 2000 is calling on all those who 
have skills or knowledge in the area of Land ownership and use 
patterns to contribute to the debate and the analysis - in 
particular, but not exclusively we need hard information and ideas 
from academics, lawyers, economists, local and national historians, 
Land Law practitioners, Land Registry practitioners, politicians, 
local authority officers, estate management experts, journalists, 
ramblers, right to roamers - even socially responsible members of the 
aristocracy.

Watch this web space for more details! 

Get involved - what do you know? What have you heard about your local 
aristocrat land owner?

If you want to e-mail us with any information please send it to:


land at domesday2000.co.uk