What is community land ownership?

HIE's community land team has a broad working definition of community land ownership:

• Community - to include not only geographically defined communities, but locally-based communities of interest;
• Land - to include land assets such as woodland, buildings, water resources, minerals and sporting rights;
• Ownership - to include not simply the acquisition of title, but also joint management, contractual and other partnership arrangements.

We therefore define community land ownership, broadly, to mean locally-based communities of various types gaining increased control over, and access to, the physical assets in their locality, for the purpose of exploiting opportunities and realising rural development benefits for the community.

The intended final impact of the work of the team is sustainable social, economic and environmental benefits accruing to local rural communities.