When it opens this week, Granary Square will be one of the biggest public spaces in Europe. A street sign declres "Welcome to King's Cross. Please enjoy this private estate considerately." It is part of a private estate of 10 plazas and parkland in the area near the rail hub.
Over the past decade, large parts of Britain's cities have been redeveloped as privately-owned estates, extending corporate control over some of the country's busiest squares and thoroughfares. These developments are no longer simply enclosed malls like Westfield in White City or business districts like Broadgate in the City of London – they are spaces open to the sky which appear to be entirely public to casual passers-by.
There are privatised public zones across Britain, including Brindleyplace in Birmingham, jointly owned by the property firms Hines and Moorfield, and LiverpoolOne, owned by the Duke of Westminster's Grosvenor estate. In Exeter, Princesshay is described as a "shopping destination featuring over 60 shops set in a series of interconnecting open streets and squares". The spaces here are owned and run by the property group Land Securities and the Crown Estate, which manages the monarch's property portfolio. Land Securities owns Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth, a waterside complex of shops, bars and restaurants. Bishops Square, which includes Spitalfields market, two squares and historic streets in east London, was sold to JP Morgan asset management in 2010.
During the Queen's diamond jubilee river pageant Tower bridge and the Millennium bridge, both owned by the City of London were reserved for invited guests and closed to the public. Also a number of streets on the south bank of the Thames, was restricted to wristband-wearing guests, a ban enforced by private security guards.
Although it lies within the London borough of Newham and borders Hackney and Tower Hamlets, the Olympic park is not accountable to any of these councils. Instead, a quango called the London Legacy Development Corporation is in charge. After the Games, the majority of the Athletes' Village will be developed by Qatari Diar – the investment arm of the Gulf state – as luxury rental apartments. The outdoor spaces will not be adopted by Newham council but managed by their private owners.
To the west, about a mile up the Thames from parliament, another new district is being created. Nine Elms, an area bigger than Hyde Park, will be the site of the new US embassy, but it will also host thousands of homes and offices, and the largest fruit and vegetable market in Britain – New Covent Garden Market. There will be a network of squares, footpaths and recreation spaces. The majority of the open space will be in private ownership.
Boris Johnson has spoken of putting "the village back into the city". But traditional villages have always included commonly owned public land. Samantha Heath, chief executive of the charity London Sustainibility Exchange, says. "In the archetypal feudal village there was always that space of common land where everyone had the right to graze their pigs and behave in a sensible way. There wasn't the sense this was the feudal landlord's land. This was common land."
Broadgate Estates, which owns and manages the 32-acre office and shopping zone set around four squares between Bishopsgate and Liverpool Street, also obtained an injunction last November. A witness statement supporting the application for an injunction stated: "There are no public rights over the common parts. (The gates to the Estate are ritually closed, once a year, to ensure that no such rights can arise by prescription)."
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Over the past decade, large parts of Britain's cities have been redeveloped as privately-owned estates, extending corporate control over some of the country's busiest squares and thoroughfares. These developments are no longer simply enclosed malls like Westfield in White City or business districts like Broadgate in the City of London – they are spaces open to the sky which appear to be entirely public to casual passers-by.
There are privatised public zones across Britain, including Brindleyplace in Birmingham, jointly owned by the property firms Hines and Moorfield, and LiverpoolOne, owned by the Duke of Westminster's Grosvenor estate. In Exeter, Princesshay is described as a "shopping destination featuring over 60 shops set in a series of interconnecting open streets and squares". The spaces here are owned and run by the property group Land Securities and the Crown Estate, which manages the monarch's property portfolio. Land Securities owns Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth, a waterside complex of shops, bars and restaurants. Bishops Square, which includes Spitalfields market, two squares and historic streets in east London, was sold to JP Morgan asset management in 2010.
During the Queen's diamond jubilee river pageant Tower bridge and the Millennium bridge, both owned by the City of London were reserved for invited guests and closed to the public. Also a number of streets on the south bank of the Thames, was restricted to wristband-wearing guests, a ban enforced by private security guards.
Although it lies within the London borough of Newham and borders Hackney and Tower Hamlets, the Olympic park is not accountable to any of these councils. Instead, a quango called the London Legacy Development Corporation is in charge. After the Games, the majority of the Athletes' Village will be developed by Qatari Diar – the investment arm of the Gulf state – as luxury rental apartments. The outdoor spaces will not be adopted by Newham council but managed by their private owners.
To the west, about a mile up the Thames from parliament, another new district is being created. Nine Elms, an area bigger than Hyde Park, will be the site of the new US embassy, but it will also host thousands of homes and offices, and the largest fruit and vegetable market in Britain – New Covent Garden Market. There will be a network of squares, footpaths and recreation spaces. The majority of the open space will be in private ownership.
Boris Johnson has spoken of putting "the village back into the city". But traditional villages have always included commonly owned public land. Samantha Heath, chief executive of the charity London Sustainibility Exchange, says. "In the archetypal feudal village there was always that space of common land where everyone had the right to graze their pigs and behave in a sensible way. There wasn't the sense this was the feudal landlord's land. This was common land."
Broadgate Estates, which owns and manages the 32-acre office and shopping zone set around four squares between Bishopsgate and Liverpool Street, also obtained an injunction last November. A witness statement supporting the application for an injunction stated: "There are no public rights over the common parts. (The gates to the Estate are ritually closed, once a year, to ensure that no such rights can arise by prescription)."
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