NEW COMMONS IN THE RURAL-URBAN FRINGE

John PowellCCRI

@CCRI_UKPresentation at the ESRC ‘Realising New Commons’ Workshop

18 November 2015

Rural-urban fringe – current forms of land-use• Residential• Retail centres• Industrial• Agricultural• Recreation• Infrastructure:

– Transport corridors

– Water– Energy– Waste

The rural-urban fringe

“a zone of intermingling land uses”

“a place of change and adjustment”

“a complex landscape”

“heightened competition...and inflated cost of land”

Yateley Common

The nature of commons

• Nature of the resource

• Nature of the governance system

• Property rights

‘Commons’ currently existing• Common land & TVGs• ‘Artificial bits’ of common space and left-overs• Community woodlands (Cydcoed; Red Rose,

Mersey, Great Western Community Forest)• The landscape and greenbelts• Biodiversity – protected areas• Access

– Formal (RoW; HLS Permissive access; waterways;)– Informal (footpaths; ‘abandoned’ land)

Reasons for providing permissive access in HLS agreements (n=221)

Prevalence of user types at access agreement locations (n=221)

Opportunities for new commons...

New commons: for what and for whom...?

Recreation

Landscape

CulturalHeritage

Food production

Natural flood

management

Biodiversity

Carbon sequestration

Waste assimilation

Energy generation

Potential obstacles to new commons• Development potential• Liability fears• Designations• Access• Vandalism/deterioration• Governance

– Limitations of the 2006 Commons Act

– Collective action

Where to focus attention...• Different forms and scales of commons

– Rural-urban fringe as a commons– City-region as a commons– Scope for ‘time limited’ commons

• Institutional arrangements– Communities of users– Powers to craft rules– Guarantees for landowners– Compensation (a transfer of resources?)

• Developing foundation for collective action • A role for local authorities?

Crookham Common