[diggers350] Land party for affordable housing

[Jock Coats]

Hmmm - I'm not sure this is the case.  I for one never forget that as a 
non-home owner I am in the minority, and of course am seeking ways to 
join that majority in some form or another (well - one aspect of it - 
security of tenure).  A big part of the various land campaigns is 
focussed on trying to prove that those who are in the 70% already (well 
the 95% of that 70% who participate in the ownership of three or four 
per cent of the land in the country) would be better off under LVT than 
under an income taxation regime while those who own more would pay 
more.  And I suppose part of that persuasion is trying to persuade them 
of the "fact" (to my mind) that they don't in fact actually own what 
they think they own - that there are so many conditions on home 
ownership that it effectively means that it is a different form of 
ownership from all others (like Churchill said).

Those who have their nice homes, however small, are also often those 
who would rather not see any more - like the green belt defenders of 
Oxfordshire who want to have their cake and ensure that nobody else has 
a bite anywhere near them.  LVT can be used as a vehicle to make 
existing land use more efficient and less likely to swallow up virgin 
land for housing - and there's some success in persuading people that 
ideas like LVT are better than urban sprawl for example.

Jock

On 6 Dec 2004, at 08:22, Globalnet mail uk wrote:

> Jock,
>
> The reason you, the Greens, ALTER, and the Land reform Group are 
> beating
> your heads against a brick wall at the moment is because your first
> assumption is wrong; that very few people participate in land 
> ownership in
> the UK. 70% of us have a stake in land through our home. So many 
> proposals
> would change that situation that if you dont take it into account, and 
> most
> dont, you will simply fail to even be heard. Its the biggest interest 
> group
> in the UK, and all the LVT etc, etc, try and pretend it isnt there. 
> It's
> there, you start with it, and that way you may get somehwere.
>
> Kevin Cahill
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