This post is by Guy Shrubsole. Yesterday, in their ambitious new Land Use Framework for England, the Government announced that they would be opening up the Land Registry. I’ve been campaigning for this for 10 years – and everyone who’s read or contributed to this blog, crunched data, geeked out with GIS maps, written to […]
This post is by Guy Shrubsole. Image: West Penwith, Cornwall – one of over 50 Landscape Recovery pilots. Since Brexit, the UK Government has been engaged in lengthy reforms of farm payments – moving from the old EU Common Agricultural Policy to a new system of Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS). Under ELMS, there are […]
This post is by Guy Shrubsole. Photo: a rather gruesome sight on a shooting estate in Berkshire. 25.9 million pheasants are currently being bred, reared or released in England, according to the latest official statistics I’ve obtained via a Freedom of Information request to the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA). The figure points to […]
This is a guest post by Lewis Winks; Guy Shrubsole inputted to the research. The government has promised ‘9 new river walks’ in England to extend public access to the countryside, but hasn’t released details of where these will be, nor how they propose to achieve this. Without a rights-based approach, achieving meaningful river access […]
This post is by Guy Shrubsole. Image: the Lulworth Ranges in Dorset, on a long lease from the Weld Estate to the Ministry of Defence. Back in March, the Government announced it was forming a new ‘National Estate for Nature’ group – bringing together some of the largest landowners in the country to do more […]
This post is by Guy Shrubsole. Image: Frank Newbould, ‘The South Downs: Your Britain – Fight for it Now’, 1942. Updated 11th May 2025 with more details on Friston Forest. Just 29 landowners own over 100,000 acres of the South Downs, stretching 100km along the chalk outcrop, Who Owns England can reveal. Back in 2018 […]
This post is by Guy Shrubsole. Image: Elveden Hall on the 22,500-acre Elveden Estate, one of the members of the Government’s new National Estate for Nature. “Land ownership in England is highly concentrated”. Not my words, but those of the UK Government, in a recently-launched consultation on land use. It was a welcome admission to […]
This post is by Guy Shrubsole. This is my submission to the Government’s Land Use consultation, which was launched by the Environment Secretary Steve Reed on 31st January 2025 and closes on 25th April. You can read DEFRA’s Land Use Consultation document here, and its Analytical Annex here. I hope what I’ve written below helps […]
This post is by Guy Shrubsole. Today the UK Government has announced plans to open up the Land Registry – which, if delivered, will finally reveal more about who owns land in England and Wales. Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook has written to HM Land Registry (HMLR) setting out the Government’s expectations and priorities for it, […]
This post is by Guy Shrubsole. For the first time, Who Owns England can reveal a map of land owned by two of England’s biggest water companies, United Utilities and Yorkshire Water – whose landholdings together span over 200,000 acres. As a result, I can also reveal the Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) owned […]