Land, rights and the gift: the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 and the negotiation of citizenship

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act came into force at the end of 2000 with,as part of its content, new provisions relating to public access to the English and Welsh countryside. In this paper we review the main elements of the Act and assess its meaning in relation to citizenship, territoriality and the place of land in English law and society. We invoke Mauss’s (1954)concept of Gift to explain the process of brokerage being made over access and rights in the countryside. In conclusion we reflect on the Act as being indicative of a wider move towards Bromley’s (1998)post-feudal scenario for land and its governance.

The Epipalaeolithic (Iberomaurusian) at Grotte des Pigeons (Taforalt), Morocco: a preliminary study of the land Mollusca

Land snail middens occur widely throughout the circum-Mediterranean, particularly in the Maghreb and Libya, but are relatively understudied when compared with the better known coastal marine middens. The site of Taforalt (Grotte des Pigeons) in north east Morocco contains thick ashy deposits with considerable numbers of land snails, dating between 13,000 and 11,000 BP. The site has been excavated periodically since its discovery in 1908, but little attention has been paid to the land snail component. Recent excavations at the site as part of the Cemeteries and Sedentism Project has facilitated reinvestigation of the Iberomaurusian layers, including the upper ashy midden unit. This investigation addresses questions surrounding chronological variation in the lithic assemblage, subsistence strategies, population health and mortuary practices. Preliminary work on the land snails has identified a low species diversity in the grey series midden layers, characterised by the large edible species Alabastrina alabastrites, Helix cf aspersa, Dupotetia dupotetiana, Otala punctata and Cernuella sp, which appear to represent an abrupt intensification in the use of land snails as a food source. Significant quantities of associated plant material and animal bone suggest that land snails are part of a broader based diet which is adopted from around 13,000 BP.

Change, rigidity & delay in the UK system of land-use development control

The British system of development control is time-consuming and uncertain in outcome. Moreover, it is becoming increasingly overloaded as it has gradually switched away from being centred on a traditional ‘is it an appropriate land-use?’ type approach to one based on multi-faceted inspections of projects and negotiations over the distribution of the potential financial gains arising from them. Recent policy developments have centred on improving the operation of development control. This paper argues that more fundamental issues may be a stake as well. Important market changes have increased workloads. Furthermore, the UK planning system's institutional framework encourages change to move in specific directions, which is not always helpful. If expectations of increased long-term housing supply are to be met more substantial changes to development control may be essential but hard to achieve.

The Finance Act 1998: can the owners of agricultural land continue to gain from their capital disposals?

This paper seeks to analyse and discuss, from the perspective of the owners of agricultural land, the main changes to the Capital Gains Tax regime introduced in the Budget of March 1998 and contained in the Finance Act 1998. The immediate replacement of indexation with a new Taper relief is examined, along with the phasing out of Retirement relief, and the interaction of Taper relief with Rollover relief.

Succession to farm tenancies: future imperfect?

Until the law was amended in 1984, the tenants of agricultural holdings enjoyed security of tenure for life, plus the prospect of two family successions to their tenancies, virtually guaranteeing a tenant- farming family at least three generations occupation of a holding. The orthodox view has been that any transfers of interests that took place before the passing of the Act which introduced the scheme in 1976 would not count towards the inherent 'totting-up' process. The 1993 High Court judgement in Saunders v Ralph has raised serious questions as to the validity of that assertion. This paper seeks to identify the key legal provisions involved and to highlight the problems that may result from the case.

Computing Markowitz efficient frontiers using a spreadsheet optimiser

Markowitz showed that assets can be combined to produce an 'Efficient' portfolio that will give the highest level of portfolio return for any level of portfolio risk, as measured by the variance or standard deviation. These portfolios can then be connected to generate what is termed an 'Efficient Frontier' (EF). In this paper we discuss the calculation of the Efficient Frontier for combinations of assets, again using the spreadsheet Optimiser. To illustrate the derivation of the Efficient Frontier, we use the data from the Investment Property Databank Long Term Index of Investment Returns for the period 1971 to 1993. Many investors might require a certain specific level of holding or a restriction on holdings in at least some of the assets. Such additional constraints may be readily incorporated into the model to generate a constrained EF with upper and/or lower bounds. This can then be compared with the unconstrained EF to see whether the reduction in return is acceptable. To see the effect that these additional constraints may have, we adopt a fairly typical pension fund profile, with no more than 20% of the total held in Property. The paper shows that it is now relatively easy to use the Optimiser available in at least one spreadsheet (EXCEL) to calculate efficient portfolios for various levels of risk and return, both constrained and unconstrained, so as to be able to generate any number of Efficient Frontiers.

Partnership in the provision of recreational access: the reconstruction of the public interest in private land in England and Wales

This paper examines the evolution of public rights of access to private land in England and Wales. Since the Eighteenth Century the administration and protection of these rights has been though a form of public/private partnership in which the judiciary, while maintaining the dominance of private property, have safeguarded de facto public access by refusing consistently to punish simple trespass. While this situation has been modified, principally by post-World War II legislation, to allow for some formalisation of access arrangements and consequent compensation to landowners in areas of high recreational pressure and low legal accessibility, recent policy initiatives suggest that the balance of the partnership has now shifted in favour of landowners. In particular, the new access payment schemes, developed by the UK Government in response to the European Commission's Agri-Environment Regulations, identify the landowner as the beneficiary of the partnership, financed by tax revenue and justified on the spurious basis of improved 'access provision'. As such the State, as the former upholder of citizen rights, now assumes the duplicitous position of underwriting private property ownership through the commodification of access, while proclaiming a significant improvement in citizens' access rights.

The future returns for property required by UK pension funds

In the 1970s Real Estate represented over 17% of the average pension funds total assets. Today such funds hold less than 4%, a figure not seen since the 1960s. This reduction in Real Estate holdings is mainly attributable to the relatively poor performance of Real Estate against other asset classes since the 1980s. Whether pension funds will increase their holding at any point in the future depends therefore on the expected return of Real Estate by comparison with that required to justify a particular asset holding. Using the technique of Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT), this paper assesses the required return that Real Estate would have to offer to justify a 15% holding in a mixed asset portfolio. This figure and the risk/return characteristics of the major asset classes is taken from survey data. Under a number of scenarios it is found that Real Estate can play a part in a mixed asset portfolio at the 15% level. In some cases however, the expected returns of Real Estate are not sufficient to justify a weight of 15% in this asset.

The future returns for property required by UK pension funds: the BHS data

Previous studies of the place of Property in the multi-asset portfolio have generally relied on historical data, and have been concerned with the supposed risk reduction effects that Property would have on such portfolios. In this paper a different approach has been taken. Not only are expectations data used, but we have also concentrated upon the required return that Property would have to offer to achieve a holding of 15% in typical UK pension fund portfolios. Using two benchmark portfolios for pension funds, we have shown that Property's required return is less than that expected, and therefore it could justify a 15% holding.

Required returns for real estate in UK pension fund portfolios

The position of Real Estate within a multi-asset portfolio has received considerable attention recently. Previous research has concentrated on the percentage holding property would achieve given its risk/return characteristics. Such studies have invariably used Modern Portfolio Theory and these approaches have been criticised for both the quality of the real estate data and problems with the methodology itself. The first problem is now well understood, and the second can be addressed by the use of realistic constraints on asset holdings. This paper takes a different approach. We determine the level of return that Real Estate needs to achieve to justify an allocation within the multi asset portfolio. In order to test the importance of the quality of the data we use historic appraisal based and desmoothed returns to examine the sensitivity of the results. Consideration is also given to the Holding period and the imposition of realistic constraints on the asset holdings in order to model portfolios held by pension fund investors. We conclude, using several benchmark levels of portfolio risk and return, that using appraisal based data the required level of return for Real Estate was less than that achieved over the period 1972-1993. The use of desmoothed series can reverse this result at the highest levels of desmoothing although within a restricted holding period Real Estate offered returns in excess of those required to enter the portfolio and might have a role to play in the multi-asset portfolio.

Recreational access to private land in England and Wales: public good; private interest

Since the Eighteenth Century the protection of public recreational access to private land has been maintained by the state through a mixture of legal rights of passage and the safeguarding of certain de facto access rights. While this situation has been modified in the last fifty years to facilitate some formalisation of access arrangements and landowner compensation in areas of high recreational pressure and low legal accessibility, recent policies indicate that a shift from public to private rights is underway. At the core of this paradigm shift are the new access payment schemes introduced as part of the restructuring of the European Common Agricultural Policy. Under these schemes landowners are now paid for 'supplying' recreational access, with the state, as the former upholder of citizen rights, now assuming the duplicitous position of further underwriting private property ownership through the effective commodification of access, while simultaneously proclaiming significant improvements in citizens' access rights.

Sustainable land management and development: the role of the chartered surveyor

Despite the growing intensity of the debate about environmental management, it is only recently that rural practice surveyors have become aware of its significance and potential. Consequently, few surveyors are yet in a position to offer professional advice, despite evidence from the RICS's client needs survey that nearly half of all existing clients require more advice on environmental matters. As a prerequisite to becoming involved in environmental management, it is clear that chartered surveyors have to develop new skills alongside new perceptions of their work. Rather than being conterminous, however, the alignment of these attributes reflects a fundamental tension. This is focused on the dichotomy between the strategic construction of the environment as a basis for realigning corporate policy and the more limited evocation of environmentalism as potential new business. This paper seeks to explore the nature and policy context of sustainable development, in the process examining its significance for rural chartered surveyors. In doing so, the paper will seek to contrast the essentially anthropocentric utilitarianism of surveyors' current attitudes with the radical agenda inferred by a more ecocentric, sustainable development approach to professional management and advice. The paper will conclude with a discussion about how far the principles of sustainable development can be incorporated into the management of surveying businesses, and what this implies for the future of the rural practice chartered surveyor as land manager.

Incorporation of water vapour transfer in the JULES Land Surface Model: implications for key soil variables and land surface fluxes

This study focuses on the mechanisms underlying water and heat transfer in upper soil layers, and their effects on soil physical prognostic variables and the individual components of the energy balance. The skill of the JULES (Joint UK Land Environment Simulator) land surface model (LSM) to simulate key soil variables, such as soil moisture content and surface temperature, and fluxes such as evaporation, is investigated. The Richards equation for soil water transfer, as used in most LSMs, was updated by incorporating isothermal and thermal water vapour transfer. The model was tested for three sites representative of semi-arid and temperate arid climates: the Jornada site (New Mexico, USA), Griffith site (Australia) and Audubon site (Arizona, USA). Water vapour flux was found to contribute significantly to the water and heat transfer in the upper soil layers. This was mainly due to isothermal vapour diffusion; thermal vapour flux also played a role at the Jornada site just after rainfall events. Inclusion of water vapour flux had an effect on the diurnal evolution of evaporation, soil moisture content and surface temperature. The incorporation of additional processes, such as water vapour flux among others, into LSMs may improve the coupling between the upper soil layers and the atmosphere, which in turn could increase the reliability of weather and climate predictions.