Rural land ownership in the United Kingdom: Changing patterns and future possibilities for land use

Abstract

The broad pattern of rural land ownership exhibits quite modest change over the past 30 years, but this impression is misleading. It understates substantial changes in property rights, evidence of which is not readily available from published statistics. These changes reflect the growing urbanisation of the countryside, which has required owners to pay more attention to consumption interests, sometimes at the expense of traditional agricultural and forestry interests, which in turn have experienced mixed fortunes. Rural land is expected to supply, and is increasingly valued in terms of, multiple goods and services. Major trends in ownership, occupancy and land prices are reviewed, noting that the divisibility and flexibility of the bundle of rights which constitute ownership have allowed holders to respond to urban pressures and farming difficulties with practices including short-term leasing, contracting, supplying life-style residential properties and accommodating increased environmental regulation. But linking land use to land ownership type is difficult, not least because there are many other drivers of land-use change. Moreover, local and individual circumstances are now more significant than in the past, not least the ageing occupational structure of farming. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of some of the political, economic and environmental drivers that may affect future land ownership patterns.