ADD2467 Land Registry - National Polygon Service

The Land Registry released a database of land ownership under open government licence in 2017. The National Polygon Service allows this information to be linked to plots of land via the Title Number. This allows the data to be used in a number of ways including:

- click on any site and see owner name and details, type of organisation, type of tenure;

- create a colour map of different owner types across London;

- search for all land owned by a particular organisation (or group of organisations); and

- overlay potential GLA project sites and see who owns the neighbouring land (allowing larger schemes to be put together).

The database and map layer will be used to replace the multiple individual site requests that would otherwise be carried out. They will be particularly useful for exploratory phases of projects and when trying to identify development packages.

The data will be used in Geographical Information System (GIS), desktop publishing (such as Adobe Illustrator) and extracts used in presentations / reports.

Several policy and project areas in the GLA require this data, including support for the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLM), London Plan, work of the Housing & Land team and the High Street Mission of the Mayor’s Recovery Board.

The GLA has considered the potential impacts on those with protected characteristics, as identified by the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), that might arise from this proposal. There are no identifiable potential impacts, both positive and negative, of the decision on those with protected characteristics (age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, gender, religion or belief, sexual orientation).

Considering financial inclusion, the data will be available to help the GLA to deliver more affordable homes and deliver more effective development schemes for Londoners.

a) key risks and issues

Possible risk — data not delivered.

Mitigation — data will be supplied as a single package, payment made after supply.

Possible risk — missing titles or titles out of order.

Mitigation — the supplier has their own Quality Assurance processes.

b) links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

The data will support work in Town Centres, around transport hubs, major developments and outer London.

c) Impact assessments and consultations

Consultation took place with the key user groups, including representatives from the main teams (Intelligence, Planning and Housing).

The value of the contract exceeds £10,000, and under section 9 of the GLA Contracts and Funding Code such contracts should be competitively procured by the seeking of three or more written quotations or the call off from an accessible framework. However, Section 10 of the code allows for exemptions from this requirement to be approved where ‘there is a complete absence of competition’. Land Registry is a non-ministerial department and is the sole organisation that registers the ownership of land and property in England and Wales.

It is their duty to keep and maintain the Land Register, where more than 24 million titles - the evidence of ownership - are documented. Land Registry was created in 1862 and the work that they do is required under the Land Registration Act 2002 and the Land Registration Rules 2003.

Officers recommend, therefore, that a contract is awarded to the Land Registry without competition and approval of an exemption from the requirements of section 9 of the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code is sought.

Approval is being sought for expenditure of up to £40,000 for the purchase of the National Polygon Service from the Land Registry, for financial years 2020-21 and 2021-22. Full breakdown of costs below.

The costs will be funded from the Intelligence Unit’s City Data & GIS budget for 2020-21 and 2021-22. It should be noted that 2021-22 budget would be subject to 2021-22 budget setting process.

The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the activity in respect of which approval is sought may be considered to be facilitative of and conducive to the exercise of the GLA’s general powers to undertake such activity as may be considered to promote the improvement of the environment in Greater London and have complied with the GLA’s related statutory duties to:

(a) pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people;

(b) consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom; and

(c) consult with appropriate bodies.

In taking the decisions requested, the assistant director must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty; namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment) and persons who do not share it (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the assistant director should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.

Section 9 of the GLA Contracts and Funding Code (the ‘Code’) requires the GLA to call off the services required from an accessible framework or conduct a competitive procurement exercise for the same. The assistant director may, however, approve an exemption from this requirement under section 10 of the Code upon certain specified grounds. One of those grounds is that an exemption may be approved where there is a complete absence of competition for the services in question. Officers have indicated at section 1 of this report that this ground applies. The assistant director may, therefore, approve the exemption proposed if satisfied with the supporting content of this report.

Should the approvals sought be granted officers must ensure that appropriate contract documentation is put in place and executed by the GLA and the Land Registry before the commencement of the services.