Ebook: The new enclosure: the appropriation of public land in neoliberal Britain

Much has been written about Britain's trailblazing post-1970s privatisation programme, but the biggest privatisation of them all has until now escaped scrutiny: the privatisation of land. Since Margaret Thatcher took power in 1979, and hidden from the public eye, about 10 per cent of the entire British land mass, including some of its most valuable real estate, has passed from public to private hands. Forest land, defence land, health service land and above all else local authority land-for farming and school sports, for recreation and housing-has been sold off en masse. Why? How? And with what social, economic and political consequences? The New Enclosure provides the first ever study of this profoundly significant phenomenon, situating it as a centrepiece of neoliberalism in Britain and as a successor programme to the original eighteenth-century enclosures. With more public land still slated for disposal, the book identifies the stakes and asks what, if anything, can and should be done.;Introduction -- A special and finite commodity: why land and landownership matter -- Landownership in Britain: a brief history -- Discourses of surplus and efficiency: preparing the land for sale -- Carrots and sticks: privatizing the land -- False promises: land privatization outcomes -- Conclusion: where now?