The Church's Many Mansions: The Changing Structure of the Church Commissioners Land and Property Holdings, 1948-1977

Abstract

The changing nature and structure of land use in western capitalist cities cannot be understood independently of the goals and objectives of the owners and developers of property. These differ according to the relations of land ownership involved. Massey and Catalano have identified three categories of private landownership in contemporary Britain: former landed property, such as the Church Commissioners and the Crown Estates, industrial and financial landownership. Whereas financial landownership is undertaken solely on the basis of its investment value and the return on capital it offers, the orientation of former landed property is distinguished by the historical ownership of land for its own sake. Looking at the changing investment strategies of the Church Commissioners for England and Wales towards their land and property holdings since their establishment in 1948, it is argued that the pressure to generate the investment income needed by the Church of England to help pay the salaries of the clergy and fulfil its general commitments has led to an increasingly commercial attitude towards their land and property investments. This has led to large-scale disposal of low-yielding agricultural and residential property and re-investment in higher-yielding commercial shop and office developments. In recent years, their search for income growth has led to dis-investment from Britain and re-investment in the United States. It is concluded that the orientation of the Church Commissioners towards their land and property holdings has become increasingly indistinguishable from that of the financial institutions.