Updated 20 September 2026
Split ownership
The leftover-land file records who owns a site because ownership is a reason homes do not get built, not a footnote. Mixed owners, unknown owners and plots split across several titles take years to put together. A list can name the land. It cannot force a sale.
Why ownership sits on the CSV
The 2017 regulations and the 2019 data standard ask authorities to say whether a site is owned by a public authority, not owned by a public authority, mixed, or unknown. That column exists because "available" on a register is a planning judgement, not proof that a single owner is ready to sell and build.
What fragmentation does
- Ransom strips and rear-access yards are common on East of England high streets.
- Former railway land often sits with a statutory undertaker that has no housing mandate.
- Estate regeneration needs resident buy-in and a master developer. Capacity looks large on the register and moves slowly.
- Unknown ownership usually means the site will not be assembled this plan period.
Lichfields noted that a share of national register capacity is locked in complex estate schemes. The East has fewer giant estates than London, but the same assembly problem appears at smaller scale: a row of lock-ups with four owners, or a mill split from its yard.
How to read the map
The ownership step removes points the national file marks as mixed or unknown, and points where the column was left blank. A blank is an unknown owner: the 2019 data standard asks for the answer, and not giving one is not evidence of a single willing seller. Earlier versions of this site treated blanks as known, which understated this step.
After permission, this is the largest cut on the walk. Two cautions on reading it that way. Public ownership is not automatically deliverable either — it still needs a disposal decision — so this screen is not a clean split between ready and stuck. And mixed ownership is a flag on the paperwork: some of these sites do get assembled, and a few of the largest in the region are being assembled now.
Questions people ask
- What does mixed ownership mean on a register?
- More than one interest has to agree before the site can be developed. That can be several freeholders, a leaseholder and a freeholder, or a public owner and a private occupier.
- Can compulsory purchase fix this?
- In principle yes, at high cost and with a long timetable. It is not the default path for a 0.3 hectare yard, which is most of the East's register.
Where the numbers come from
- Brownfield land registers data standard — GOV.UK, 31 October 2019
- Brownfield land dataset — Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, 20 September 2026. National aggregation of Part 1 registers. Points, not polygons. Coverage may be incomplete. Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Banking on Brownfield — Lichfields, for the Land Promoters and Developers Federation, 1 June 2022. National register capacity equated to 31% of 15-year housing need, with less brownfield where demand is highest.