Steve Rotheram launches England’s first Land Commission

Steve Rotheram has announced the establishment of England’s first Land Commission, specifically established to review the use of public land for community wealth building.

Since the 1980s, land has come to be primarily treated as a financial asset, serving as a collateral against which banks create mortgage debt.   This has led to rising house prices and housing shortages, and has reduced overall productivity, with an increasing share of investment diverted to land from other more productive areas.

The Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region said that the commission will be coordinated by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority in collaboration with the leading think tank the Centre for Local Economic Strategies. Commissioners will participate in four online meetings, over the course of September, October and November 2020 and CLES will take responsibility for drafting the final report of the commission, based on the output of the meetings.

The aim of the meetings will be to develop creative approaches to use of land in the region, for example through innovative processes and ownership models. The commission will be action oriented, with the aim of generating ideas for concrete projects, rather than only general recommendations.

Rotheram said: “The unprecedented circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic, with all its economic consequences, make it even more important for us to ensure that we can wring the maximum possible community value from our land assets to encourage sustainable economic recovery.

“I’ve brought together a Commission made up of senior figures from the worlds of academia, property development and planning. I have challenged them to think imaginatively and come back to me with radical recommendations for how we can make the best use of publicly-owned land to make this the fairest and most socially inclusive city region in the country.

“Through success stories such as Baltic Creative we’ve already seen alternative, socially-conscious approaches to land management in the city region. I can’t wait to hear the Commission’s recommendations for how we improve the management and use of land to deliver the greatest benefit for the people of the Liverpool City Region.”