Draft UK Land Reform Bill

[Gerrard Winstanley]

What with all the talk and slow progress of land reform in Scotland I thoug=
h it worthwhile publishing my very simple and non-legalistic ideas for an Ac=
t of Parliament for the whole UK to bring about fundamental land reform and =
the sweeping social justice that would come with the UK population regaining=
 free access to land to live on. This would probably bring about a collapse =
on the ridiculously inflated market in houses but - as most of that fantasy =
market is fictional mortgage money that would be no bad thing, bringing abou=
t the colapse of most of the UK's private banking system. Phew!

Tony Gosling



Citizen's land security bill
http://www.public-interest.co.uk/manor/landreformbill.rtf

September 2004 - Tony Gosling - The Land Is Ours/Ecovillage Network UK

10-12 Picton Street. Montpelier, Bristol, BS6 5QA – 0117 944 6219

Object: 
To begin the process of returning the land in the UK to the people to whom =
it rightly belongs.

Methodology: 
Given that land – and its associated rights - is a free gift to mankind as =
a whole – not to particular individuals, this legislation will begin the pro=
cess of divesting particular individual and corporate freeholders of title t=
o excessive amounts of that land and distributing it fairly to whoever among=
st the poorest in the land wishes to have it 

Current situation: 
With roughly 10% of the population of the UK owning 95% of the land many or=
dinary people are entirely without security – the strain on current housing =
stock means prices are spiralling out of all realistic measure of a home's a=
ctual worth and the need for more homes is only being restrained by a dracon=
ian development control system.

Historical models: 
There are two historical models which will be referred to throughout this b=
ill, both occurring in and around the 1880's in the British Isles. Firstly t=
he handing over of title to land in Ireland to impoverished tenants through =
a series of acts of parliament culminating in the Wyndham Acts. Secondly the=
 enshrining in British law the customary practices of the Scottish crofters =
through the Royal Commission into the grievances of the Crofters and the sub=
sequent Crofting Act.

Powerful landed interests: 
Human beings can be particularly nasty and graspingly territorial when it c=
omes to the idea of controlling or owning land. Dirty tricks and underhand t=
actics to dilute or stop such a bill progressing through to legal enactment =
must be expected and allowed for. At all times it must be explained to lando=
wners affected by this and subsequent bills that their land is held from the=
 crown – it is not their own – and that in almost every case has been gained=
 historically in various unethical ways including as a crude `reward' for bl=
oodshed. 

Stages of the bill

1. The setting up of a land commission of 12 individuals with a proven trac=
k record in land rights and a UK government ministry of land with the task o=
f ensuring that all Britain's citizens have access to land.

2. The identification by the commission of Britain's top 10 individual and =
corporate landowners and the opening by the ministry of a list of individual=
s in various degrees of housing need to take part in the land resettlement p=
rogramme. These individual will be prioritised by a points system similar to=
 that used on local authority housing lists.

3. The organising of people in the land resettlement list into clusters of =
like-minded individuals and the setting up of individual workers co-operativ=
es using the same rules of succession and land management as in the Crofting=
 Acts. Each Ecovillage will contain a proportion of at least 50% of the land=
 as collectively managed but ideally more like 90% collectively managed.

4. The selection by the commission of 10% of large landowners' land for rec=
laiming by the crown (the current ultimate landowner) into the crown estates=
.

5. The appointment by the commission of a further group of 7 experts in Per=
maculture, Bioregionalism, alternative technology and low-impact land use to=
 divide reclaimed crown land into areas which can readily support between 50=
0 and 1000 people with a density of roughly ¼ acre per individual. This `Eco=
village commission' will designate particular areas as `village centres' and=
 arrange for the building of large meeting halls. They will also clear and l=
andscaping rail/roadways to be completed by the villagers themselves.
 
6. The transfer of freehold from the crown estates to the new co-operatives=
 and the apportioning of interest free land ministry loans repayable over at=
 least 80 years to build on granted land.

The Land Is Ours - www.tlio.org.uk 
Ecovillage Network UK - www.evnuk.org.uk