What about a weekend on this little number?

[Gerrard Winstanley]

What about a weekend on this little number? Announcing a people's
parliamentary Jubilee Bill for the redistribution of land

Tony Gosling | 19.08.2008 02:00 | Analysis | Free Spaces | Indymedia |
World
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/08/407051.html

Redistribution of land to the British people and other nations is long
overdue. Over the centuries it has been stolen through various sorts
of enclosure or privatisation.

With Northern Rock and the credit crunch it may no longer be possible
to continue with the existing system of land tenure here in Britain
and possibly the world. Call it a kind of long overdue 'Jubilee'.

Citizen’s Land Security Bill
The Land Is Ours/Bristol Housing Action Movement
10-12 Picton Street. Montpelier, Bristol, BS6 5QA â€" 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 â€" and its associated rights - is a free
gift to mankind as a whole â€" not to particular individuals, this
legislation will begin the process of divesting particular individual
and corporate freeholders of title to excessive amounts of that land
and distributing it fairly to whoever amongst 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 ordinary people are entirely without security â€"
the strain on current housing stock means prices are spiralling out of
all realistic measure of a home’s actual worth and the need for more
homes is only being restrained by a draconian development control system.

Historical models: There are two historical models which will be
referred to throughout this bill, both occurring in and around the
1880’s in the British Isles. Firstly the 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
subsequent Crofting Act.

Powerful landed interests: human beings can be particularly nasty and
graspingly territorial when it comes to the idea of controlling or
owning land. Dirty tricks and underhand tactics 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 landowners affected
by this and subsequent bills that their land is held from the crown â€"
it is not their own â€" and that in almost every case has been gained
historically in various unethical ways including as a crude ‘reward’
for bloodshed.

Stages of the bill

1. The setting up of a land commission of 12 individuals with a proven
track record in land rights and a UK government ministry of land with
the task of 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
individuals in various degrees of housing need to take part in the
land resettlement programme. 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-operatives 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 reclaiming 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 Permaculture, Bioregionalism, alternative technology and low-impact
land use to divide reclaimed crown land into areas which can readily
support between 500 and 1000 people with a density of roughly ¼ acre
per individual. This ‘Ecovillage commission’ will designate particular
areas as ‘village centres’ and arrange for the building of large
meeting halls. They will also clear and landscaping 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
Bristol Housing Action Movement -  http://www.public-interest.co.uk/bham/
 http://www.bilderberg.org/land/leveller.htm

Tony Gosling
- Homepage: http://www.public-interest.co.uk/manor/