1 July 2021The findings of the Parish, Town and Community Council Land Ownership survey have recently been published by HM Land Registry (HMLR).
The survey, which ran between 19 January and 21 March 2021, forms part of the government commitment made in the 2017 Housing White Paper ‘Fixing our Broken Housing Market’ to make land ownership more transparent. The aim is to have all publicly owned land registered by 2025.
1231 responses were received, which represents a response rate of approximately 11%, which is considered ‘good’ – most online surveys attract a response of between 2-3%.
The survey found that 80% of those who responded have successfully registered land they owned and the type of land owned was mostly open land and fields rather than buildings.
There was a lack of confidence reported by respondents in lodging an application to register land with just under half saying that was a barrier to registration. Many felt that a dedicated team would make them more likely to register along with a suite of materials and resources available online.
Amongst the recommendations was that HMLR develop a communications strategy on the benefits of registering and the risks of not registering, with links to help and guidance via National Association of Local Councils (NALC) and One Voice Wales (OVW) and that processes are made clearer and less complex for the non-specialist.
