Agricultural History Review, Volume 70 Part 2 (2022), pp. 293–309

The twentieth century witnessed periodic bouts of public and political concern over who owned and occupied agricultural land in Great Britain. Liberal and then Labour governments were at various times concerned with the domination of landed estates, questions of taxation, land nationalization and the appropriate balance between public and private rights. These issues came increasingly to the fore as the population of the country doubled, public demands for access increased, and, especially after World War II, the urgent need to safeguard and enhance agricultural production. In the 1970s, a new round of concern emerged stimulated by recent incursions into the agricultural land market by new buyers (from home and overseas) who saw land as a safe investment in a period of high inflation and economic instability. This led the government of the day to set up a Parliamentary inquiry under the chairmanship of the Rt Hon Lord Northfield. This inquiry proved unique not just in its remit and eventual depth of treatment but also as a rich source of information on the condition and complexity of land occupancy at that time. Its findings provide a key historical benchmark against which more recent, and much needed, studies of agricultural occupancy change can be judged and critically assessed. The paper provides an account of the ways in which the Northfield committee of inquiry conducted its work, how the debates surrounding its remit evolved and why its recommendations had little immediate impact on public policy at the time. 

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