The Great Land Use Debate
Who own's the UK land? What's it used for, and what should it be used for?
The farmers marched on Westminster in their thousands on Tuesday. It all went of peacefully although as expected some opportunist MPs latched on to make sure that their voice was heard even though 99% of the time, they have nothing to do with farming. That’s politics for you! All about opportunism.
Tehe debate that’s been had right now boils down to land. Who owns it, what it’s currently used for, and what it should be used for?
Who does own the UK’s land? Short answer is most of it (around 50%) is owned by a very small percent (about 1%) of people. This includes aristocratic families (Duke of Westminster), large corporations and self-made billionaires (e.g. Danish billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen is the largest private landowner in Scotland, owning approximately 220,000 acres). This concentration of ownership isn’t exclusive to land. We’ve seen it happen in many other sectors including retail, technology (Big 5 Tech companies), mining and house building). This should be a concern to us all as it stifles competition and innovation.
What is it used for? According to UK Govt statistics as of June 2023, the UK’s Utilised Agricultural Area (UAA) was just over 17 million hectares, accounting for 70% of the nation's total land area. That’s land used for crop production or livestock rearing. It’s worth bearing in mind that a significant percentage of crop production is for animal field. For example, in 2021, around 5 million tonnes of barley were allocated to animal feed, representing about 72% of the total barley production of approximately 6.9 million tonnes.
What should it be used for? -This is where the debate rages. The farming sector argue that food security should be a priority so an equal if not larger amount of land should be reserved for crops and livestock rearing. Environmentalists say no to that. What’s needed is to let more land return to nature to improve biodiversity. The renewables sector make the case that more land needs to be used to build wind and solar farms, and erect pylons to support the transmission of electricity. Then you add the big housebuilders who are trying to tap into the Govt’s push to build up to 300k new houses a year. On top of all that, there’s the rail sector who are already buying up large chunks of land to support new railways such as HS2 and the proposed East West Railway from Cambridge to Oxford.
A complete lack of coherent policy with regards to land use compounded by the lobbying power of the largest land owners means decision making is paralysed in spite of the rhetoric of the Labour Govt.
The public at large need honest answers from the Govt on what their priorities are. They cannot try to be all things to all people which is exactly what politicians are guilty of. Food security and climate resilience aren’t popularity contests. Hard choices need to be made.
This isn’t 1950 when the UK population was 50 million. It’s 68 million and climbing with roughly 24 million living in the South of England (including London). We can’t make any more land. All when can do is use it more efficiently.
Kicking the can down the road just isn’t an option. As we’ve experienced this year, it only takes one very wet spring and summer tor reduce crop yields and delay planting for 2025. It only takes the imposition of 20% tariffs by the new Trump Govt in the US to inflate the import price of food and drink from the US. It only takes a further escalation in the war in Ukraine to cause another energy shock sending seed, fertiliser, and construction material prices even higher.
We need to think creatively about how we solve these challenges. They are not insurmountable. Resource scarcity has a great way of focusing the mind and without question we’ve entered a period of scarcity whether it’s housing, infrastructure or to a lesser degree food.
Whereas once we could look towards Europe for support, this is much less of an option. The Brexit boat has sailed off into the horizon. The UK is still a wealthy country by most global measures. However, we must cut out much of the waste and inefficiences if we are to stand a chance of creating a secure and sustainable country.