Part 1 – Land Ownership by Companies & Organisations in Folkestone & Hythe District
Who owns the vast swathes of land and property in our district matters. It matters because land is a scarce resource – as Mark Twain put it, ‘they aren’t making it any more’ – and because ownership of it often confers wealth, power and influence. It matters because who owns land gets to choose how it’s used; and that has big implications for almost everything. Where we build our homes, how we grow our food, how we protect ourselves from flooding, how much space we set aside for wildlife – all this is hugely affected by who owns land.
All the data in this blog comes via the land registry and was published on the 3 January 2025. Any errors or inconsistencies in the data belongs to the land registry and not us, as it’s their data, which they’ve publicly published.
All the data is set out in spreadsheets and can be downloaded for you to peruse at your leisure. Each spreadsheet gives the title deed number, if the land/property is owned freehold or leasehold, the price paid – in some cases, the company who owns the land, and when the land was purchased. The land ownership covers all parts of the Folkestone & Hythe District only.
Folkestone & Hythe District Council own or lease 514 pieces of land or property, according to the land registry data published on 3 January 2025. It does not include all the Council housing property.
Land & Property Owned or Leased by FHDC
The Council’s asset register which is out of date shows they own 708 pieces of land and property.
FHDC Asset Register as of _31/10/2023
Kent County Council own or lease 418 pieces of land or property according to the land registry data published on 3 January 2025.
Land & Property owned or leased by KCC in Folkestone & Hythe District
In KCCs asset register for Folkestone & Hythe they own 71 properties and maintain 117 sites. The property in total covers 185,312 (m2) and 301 acres of land according to their database.
KCC Land & Property owned in Folkestone & Hythe District
The Ministry of Defence also own or lease land and property across the district. According to the land registry data published on 3 January 2025 73 pieces of land or property.
Land & Property owned or leased by Ministry of Defence in Folkestone & Hythe District
Swathes of land & property are owned by Oxford & Cambridge Colleges across the Romney Marsh area. In total they own thousands of acres. Much of the land owned by the Oxford Colleges are owned around Lydd, Old Romney and the land either side of the Alkham Valley Rd. All the land owned by Trinity College Cambridge is owned in and around St Mary’s in the Marsh.
Land & Property owned by Trinity College – University Cambridge in Folkestone & Hythe District
Also the King, King Charles III, who currently sits on the throne, owns swathes of land around Brenzett, Lydd, Ivychurch, Old Romney, Greatstone, Brookland and elsewhere on the Marsh.
Land owned by His Majesty the King in the Folkestone & Hythe District
The greatest physical and mental health resource yet created is everywhere about us: nature. Yet the feudal structures of land ownership and access mean that little of it is available for residents of our district to enjoy. We are living with the impacts of a pre-democratic system of exclusion; a legacy of centuries of game laws, enclosure acts, stoppage notices and the hostile architecture it left behind. Spiked fences, barbed wire, angry signs, cameras, walls, gamekeepers and gates: all mar our experience of the countryside in our district and the more positive, inclusive culture it could yet create.
We will bring you part II of the land ownership blog in the coming weeks. It will include land ownership -outright or leased by Affinity Water, Creative Folkestone, Southern Water, Dept of the Environment & others.
The Shepway Vox Team
Being Voxatious Is NOT a Crime
Leave a Reply