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Morning Briefing: half of the country is owned by less than 1% of the population
Half of all the land across the country is owned by less than 1% of the UK’s population, The Guardian reveals this morning
The paper runs data from Guy Shrubsole, author of Who Owns England?, who found that 25,000 landowners had control of half of the country.
The majority of these landowners were aristocrats, such as the Queen and the Duke of Buccleuch, who still own 30% of all UK land.
Corporations were the second biggest landowners with around 18% land, oligarchs and city bankers own 17%, while the public sector is in control of just 8.5% of all land.
Jon Trickett, Labour MP and shadow minister for the Cabinet Office, said the figures showed it was a “country for the few not the many”.
News agency Reuters runs a piece on new data from the Office for National Statistics data which shows that house prices rose at their weakest rate in six-and-a-half years.
The data showed that house prices were just 0.6% higher in February than a year ago and had dropped from a 1.7% year-on-year rise in January.
Trade paper for the farming industry Farming UK reports on the increasing difficulties of building affordable homes in rural communities due to government proposals to change the law on residential tenancies.
Speaking to the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers, the paper said that the new ending of Section 21 evictions could see more homeowners selling up or using homes as holiday lets, making it harder for those that work in rural communities to find homes.
In development news, Insider Media reports on plans to build a new 2,500 home development outside of Wiltshire. The application lodged by Swindon Borough Council also includes retail and commercial space.
While Birmingham-based developer Godwin Group is also planning to build 2,500 homes across a number of sites in Leicestershire and Yorkshire, per The Business Desk.
Scottish Housing News has a story about the appointment of Richard Howat as the new chief executive of small Scottish housing association Scottish Churches Housing Action.
The Birmingham Mail runs a feature on the council’s healthy homes officer Paul Hartill who just 18 months ago found himself sleeping rough in a local Walsall park.
A series of tragic events, such as redundancy and the loss of his parents, saw Mr Hartill find himself homeless.
However, he has now turned his life around and currently works as a “rough sleepers champion” to help people in Walsall who find themselves in a similar situation.
On social
With Easter on the horizon, housing associations come up with their own Easter fun:
Fun day yesterday at our ’Great Office Easter Bake Off’ raising money for @HospiceatHome - what a display of chocolate! Great effort by staff raising money for Brad and Max’s Hospice at Home #greatnorthrun @Great_Run pic.twitter.com/Vskgatkfpy
— EdenHA (@EdenHousingUK)Fun day yesterday at our 'Great Office Easter Bake Off' raising money for @HospiceatHome - what a display of chocolate! Great effort by staff raising money for Brad and Max’s Hospice at Home #greatnorthrun @Great_Run pic.twitter.com/Vskgatkfpy
— EdenHA (@EdenHousingUK) April 18, 2019
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