Public Ownership of Urban Land

In most British cities a number of public bodies have become, for a variety of reasons, substantial landowners. Despite the extensive literature on land policy generally, and despite current debates about the role of the public sector in urban development there is very little published information about the pattern of urban landownership. This paper reviews the controversial nature of public landownership, discusses some of the reasons for it and examines the shortage of reliable information. It then reports on a detailed empirical study of one city, Manchester, and provides an account of the extent and pattern of public land holdings. Fourteen separate public bodies are shown to account for 65 per cent of the land in the city. The pattern of public landownership has had a profound impact upon the developing urban form.