THE LAND IS OURS
by George Monbiot
The quality of our lives depends to a large extent on the quality of our surroundings. Yet, partly because of the inordinate power of large landowners and developers, ordinary people still have very little influence over the ways in which the land is used. The Land is Ours campaign was founded in April 1995 with the aim of bringing land-use decisions in Britain to account. We have three main objectives:
We'd like to see suitable housing land used for low cost homes, especially self-help and community initiatives. At the moment, scores of good inner city sites are being left idle by speculators, or used to build office blocks which no one wants or executive housing which no one can afford. In the countryside we want a tightening of Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act, in order to allow low impact settlers to live on their own land, without destroying landscape values. We'd like a new Caravan Sites Act, to provide Gypsies and Travellers with a place to live.
Both subsidies and planning policies need to be redirected to steer farming from high-impact, low employment towards low-impact, high employment forms. This means the definitive mapping of locally-important habitats and landscape features and their protection in much the same way as footpaths are protected today. As far as grants and subsidies are concerned, we'd like to see the whole country treated as an Environmentally Sensitive Area, with special support for such land uses as smallholder organic agriculture.
We're campaigning for the protection and reclamation of common spaces - especially informal commons - in both towns and countryside. We're calling for a right of access to uncultivated land in the countryside, on a similar basis to the Swedish Allemansratten. There's an urgent need to bring to an end the continued enclosure of streets, playing fields, city farms, allotments and informal relaxation and play areas. We want to see an end to off site "planning gain" - technically illegal, but not yet tested in law. We want local people to have the same rights of appeal as developers.
There have been hundreds of land campaigns of various kinds since the Diggers occupied St Georges' Hill in 1649, but I hope I am right in believing that ours has a greater chance of success than its forebears. Our first action, the occupation of a disused airfield and set-aside land a short walk from St Georges' Hill, generated almost universal - and highly favourable - press coverage and enormous public sympathy. The occupation was wholly non-confrontational. Despite building a village which housed six hundred people for a week, we managed to leave the land in as good a state as it was when we occupied it. We dug gardens, performed a play and distributed information in the neighbouring towns. I think it is fair to say that we succeeded in generating the first stirrings of a national debate on land.
Since then, after three smaller occupations, we have scored our first definitive political success: Oxfordshire County Council adopted a motion supporting us and calling for land reform. We are now approaching every county council. Last August we launched a competition for Britains' best and worst landowners, in which people in both towns and the countryside were asked to send in nominations. We're also carrying out research into planning, urban housing land, countryside management and the attitudes of district councils towards low impact development. If you'd like to nominate a landowner for this years competition, the criteria include treatment of the homeless, tenants, the environment, common spaces and access. Please send a few paragraphs explaining your choice. Nominators will remain anonymous, but we'll need a contact phone number in case more information is required.
The Land is Ours, East Oxford Community Centre, Princes Street, Oxford OX4 1DD.
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