ben's interweb
Land - access, ownership and habitation
Land - access, ownership and habitation
Land...access to it, landownership, and living on it:
...following the issue about wild camping on
Dartmoor in early 2023 (something that Tom and Ben did in January 2021,
where this picture was taken), then reading a couple of interesting books
about the land question, and finally, recently, the absolutely dire
situation for those in rented accommodation in the UK: the whole question
of 'Land' has been in the front of my mind.
Xmas 2022 included a book by Nick Hayes called The
Trespasser's Companion - which I thought both Ben and Tom would appreciate
- but the real book to read on the subject is:
which is a wonderful exposition of why we need a
right to roam in England (as there already is in Scotland - see
below). It is a beautiful book which deserves close study; very much
in the style of Ben's writings, it is shot through with illustrations by
the author (who has written 4 graphic novels). The author, Nick,
even impressed The Spectator, that bastion of a conservative and
backward-looking view of England, who called the book 'a devastating
exposure of land inequality'. It lays out not only why we need the
right to roam much more extensively in England, but also unpicks the way
in which, since William the Conqueror in1066, the aristocracy and ruling
class have stolen the common land, and excluded the common people from it.
The chapters in the book are each named after an animal, from Badger and
Sheep by way of Spider and Cockroach to Hare and Stag. The quotation
which starts the first chapter is one that King Charles could do with
taking up: 'Any friend of mine walks where he likes in this country, or
I'll want to know the reason why' (Mr Badger in The Wind in the
Willows) - provided of course the King were referring to the common
man rather than his aristocratic friends!
Having been enthused by the Book of Trespass, I
realised that the time had come to read The New Enclosure by
Brett Christophers, which has been sitting on my book shelf for four years
waiting for its time:
'This book forcefully explains how land ownership matters
today
[...and Nick Hayes is similarly clear about this: it is not the
landownership of ordinary home owners that is the issue, but the
domination of the vast majority of our acreage by the nought point one
percent...].
The New Enclosure combines a systematic analysis of the role of
land and landownership in a capitalist society with a compelling critique
of neoliberalism in Britain
[i.e. Thatcherism - that which we baby-boomers allowed to unfold
in the 80's and 90's].
Christophers demonstrates that recent decades have seen a massive transfer
of public land into private control. He documents the overwhelmingly
negative and unjust consequences of [the] new process of [this
modern-day, neoliberal] enclosure and demolishes the ideology of
privatisation upon which it is based. No one who cares about the
politics of land can ignore this powerful argument.' (David Madden)
I said above the 'nought point one percent'
rather than the normally quoted 'one percent', but the situation in
Scotland, as was pointed out in Parliament in 2013, is even more pointed:
'[T]he divide is between the equivalent of one twelve-thousandth part [0.008%]
of the population (the part owning half of Scotland's privately-owned
land) and the remainder.'
In Scotland, there IS a right to roam - it is circumscribed, and
there is a code to be followed The Scottish Outdoor Access
Code. This code is reasonable for both
those living in the countryside and those wanting to for
example camp in it:
'Access rights extend to wild camping. This type of camping is
lightweight, done in small numbers and only for two or three nights in
any one place. You can camp in this way wherever access rights apply,
but help to avoid causing problems for local people and land managers by
not camping in enclosed fields of crops or farm animals and by keeping
well away from buildings, roads or historic structures. Take extra care
to avoid disturbing deer stalking or grouse shooting. If you wish to
camp close to a house or building, seek the owner's permission. Leave no
trace...'
and these rights have been passed in the Scottish parliament (maybe partly
because of the extreme inequity of the landownership situation in
Scotland). So why can't the same right exist here in England?
Why can't the UK parliament pass a similar law? There is a campaign,
with a website (clearly designed by Nick Hayes) about the Right to Roam...
The situation in the UK housing market -
Christophers points out that house prices are largely land
prices - is a function of Thatcherism/neoliberalism, with speculation
(supported by successive UK governments) driving up prices; the sell off
of council houses providing a new source of houses for new slum landlords
(see the recent BBC Panorama programme about housing);
and a dramatic reduction in social housing due to the lack of replacement
housing resulting from Thatcher's Right to Buy legislation. The
situation in the private rental sector has also been made horrendous due
to Thatcher's deregulation of rental contracts - I remember something
called security of tenure...
I think that we need someone who can shape the
media discourse to bring together these three aspects of Land: the right
to roam; the reverse of the privatisation of the commons; and the
re-regulation of house rental in the UK - and launch it into the UK media
(as I mentioned, King Charles would be a suitable person!) so it can be
thoroughly picked over and discussed.
It really is about
- the unwinding (maybe I mean the un-binding, the breaking of the bonds)
of Thatcherism/neoliberalism's toxic effects;
- a move forward to re-establishing the land commons that serve our
society: the common spaces, both in the cities and the countryside, and
the common rights on common land;
- a focus on re-establishing common ownership of the basics of life:
water, power, transport, homes, education, health;
- finance and legislation that would support such re-commoning (in
Scotland, funding was made available by the government for communities to
purchase land from absent landlords).
One thing that stands in the way of such progress in England is the
housing market: anything that threatens the implacable rise of house
prices is seen as being electoral suicide. Perhaps fortunately, the
rise in interest rates (if it persists) could at least slow down price
rises, and (especially if more social housing were made available, by
building or acquisition) the people getting out of buy to let because they
can't make enough money due to higher interest rates, might feed some more
affordable homes onto the home owner market.
We need these ideas to be out there, in the news discourse!
¡Que haya luz! Kerenza ha yeghes da! Dad/Grandpa/Andrew x
[Ed:email from Catherine:]
Thank-you Andrew for this great article a thought provoking piece of
writing ! A very beautiful photo of your son Ben too ! So Special
Thank-you xx
[Ed: an email from Penny]
andrew this all really resonates with me and i've been on a mission for a
decade or more to secure land on which to build social eco housing in st
just and beyond, to evolve a model that can be replicated across cornwall,
and fast! we need 20.000 homes immediately and another 50k over the next
10 years if we are to haul ourselves out of this insane crises.
i wrote to our now king (the duchy at the time) 3 years ago about it and i
shall be sending our new duchy a copy of his fathers reply he sent, i'm
hopeful that william-what with all his homelessness associations in
london-will be a little more helpful! its all interwoven with the national
trust and the area of outstanding natural beauty scheme which both have
land locked uk wide that could be enhanced to inhabit local people-we are
nature after all!!
i'm on a mission.
do you know these guys? https://www.thelandmagazine.org.uk/ i think you
should get published in it. i'm with you andrew, sending big love, p xxxx