Opening Up the Land Registry

Yesterday, in their ambitious new Land Use Framework for England, the Government announced that they would be opening up the Land Registry.

Guy Shrubsole: Revealing Who Owns England Just Became Government Policy

Guy Shrubsole has campaigned for this for years - he deserves recognition for his efforts to reclaim access to land in England.

This is a big deal I think. The current UK (Labour) government is quietly doing some big and potentially consequential reforms like this. UK mainstream media fails to report on this, except when it attacks it. There is also the recently opened England Coast Path, a project which was begun by the previous Labour government. This was only made possible by the the The Marine and Coastal Access Bill, also passed by that government in 2009, which among other things improved "rights of access to land near the English coast".

There is (slow) progress being made on reclaiming the original “commons” - the land beneath us - and establishing our shared "right to roam".

I’m feeling encouraged by something the government is doing for once! :-)