Another bargain

[ozzy72]

One Californian town for $1.75m http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2610561.stm
Some weird stuff turns up on eBay

[Hagar]

Hmmm. I've never really thought about it before but this is a tad worrying.  I never considered a town as being anyone's property & can't think why anyone would want to own one for that matter. I wonder who owns my home town?

[ozzy72]

Knowing your lucky Doug he probably has the initials T.B. and lives in Downing Street
Actually I think you'll find it is Her Majesty

[eno]

There was a rather interesting BBC programme a couple of months ago about the land ownership of the UK. The results were rather suprising. Unfortunately I can't seem to find a link  :-[

[Hagar]

[quote]There was a rather interesting BBC programme a couple of months ago about the land ownership of the UK. The results were rather suprising. Unfortunately I can't seem to find a link

[eno]

From the BBC:
[quote]Whose Britain Is It Anyway?

Dynamic duo Peter and Dan Snow lift the lid on how few of Britain's 60 million inhabitants own its 60 million acres of land.

They reveal that 90 per cent live on about 10 per cent of the land and that homes are now a third smaller than previous generations'.

While the Forestry Commission is still the largest landowner, the Church has sold off over a million acres in recent times; and Prince Charles earns

[Hagar]

From the BBC:

The programme was aired on Jan 6th 2006

Shame I missed it. That covers the land ownership but it doesn't seem to address the question of who (if anyone) owns the towns built on the land. For example: Many towns & villages around here (like the town of Arundel) are built on land belonging to the Goodwood estate & owned by the Duke of Norfolk. Does that mean he also owns the town?

[eno]

It doesn't mean he owns the town ....... but probably a large proportion of it and the rights to any minerals discovered under it. He probably has a major influence on any decisions made in the town.
If I remember from the programme the Landed Gentry made up the 3rd largest group after the Forestry Commission and Crown.

[Theis]

It is eBay's third largest sale ever, he said, behind a Gulfstream II jet that sold for $4.9m and a former missile silo that had been converted into a luxury home, which fetched $2.1m

Nice!

[TacitBlue]

Knowing your lucky Doug he probably has the initials T.B. and lives in Downing Street

Well, you might be right about the first thing, but you got my address wrong.

-TacitBlue