17/02/2022 - IWA Report Launch: Our Land: Communities and Land Use

This event was dedicated to the launch of our latest report, Our Land: Communities and Land Use. The project is funded by the Friends Provident Charitable Foundation and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.

Our report tells a story of Wales severely lagging behind in giving communities a right to access land and other assets, with an arduous and demoralising process that seems almost designed to keep assets out of community control, at a time when we emerge from a period of austerity that has driven a sell-off of community land and assets. We share the viewpoint of farmers, who are not merely defined by their work but are also active citizens of rural Wales, underpinning not just the economy of these areas but also much of its cultural life, too.

This launch event provided attendees with an opportunity to hear the findings of the report, as well as our recommendations for policy-makers in Wales. We believe they will empower communities to have a real say in what happens in their area, underpinning vibrant and successful local businesses and services that can become new lodestones of often-struggling communities.

This was an hour-long seminar on Zoom, delivered by Harry Thompson, Economic Policy Lead at the IWA and author of the report, and Auriol Miller, Director of the IWA.

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