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Author Archives: HM Government

Press release: Change of Her Majesty’s Ambassador to South Sudan

2012 – 2016 Kampala, High Commissioner 2011 – 2012 Washington, HM Consul General and Counsellor Corporate Services USA (Temporary Duty) 2011 Jakarta, Deputy Head of Mission (Temporary Duty) 2008 – 2010 Ministry of Justice, Principal Private Secretary to the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice 2006 – 2008 UK Permanent Representation to the European Union Brussels, Political Counsellor 2003 – 2006 Harare, Deputy Head of Mission 2000 – 2003 Stockholm, First Secretary Head of Political/Economic Section 1996 – 2000 UK Permanent Mission to the United Nations New York, First Secretary (Economic and Social) 1995 – 1996 FCO, Head of Russia, Ukraine and Moldova Section, Eastern Department 1994 – 1995 FCO, Head of Russia External/Commonwealth of Independent States Section, Eastern Department 1992 – 1994 FCO, Desk Officer for Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) implementation, CFSP Unit 1989 – 1992 Warsaw, Third (then Second) Secretary Chancery 1987 – 1989 FCO, Assistant Desk Officer, Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, East Africa Department 1987 Joined FCO read more

Press release: February 2017 Price Paid Data

Land Registry Price Paid Data tracks land and property sales in England and Wales submitted to us for registration.

This month’s Price Paid Data includes details of over 84,200 residential and commercial land and property sales in England and Wales lodged for registration in February 2017.

Of the 84,234 sales lodged for registration:

  • 59,035 were freehold

  • 14,430 were newly built

  • 25,698 sales took place in February 2017

  • 436 were residential sales in February 2017 in England and Wales for £1 million and over

  • 259 were residential sales in February 2017 in London for £1 million and over

Number of sales lodged for registration by property type

Property type February 2017
Detached 18,594
Semi-detached 20,067
Terraced 21,164
Flat/maisonette 18,135
Other 6,274
Total 84,234

The most expensive residential sale in February 2017 was of a terraced property in the London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea for £10,000,000. The cheapest residential sale in February 2017 was of a semi-detached property in Birmingham for £15,000.

The most expensive commercial sale in February 2017 was in Southampton for £58,154,115. The cheapest commercial sale in February 2017 was in Cambridge for £100.

Access the full dataset

Notes to editors

  1. Price Paid Data (PPD) is published at 11am on the 20th working day of each month. The dataset for March will be published on 3 May 2017.

  2. Price Paid Data is property price data for all residential and commercial property sales in England and Wales that are lodged with us for registration in that month, subject to exclusions.

  3. The following information is available for each property:
    • the full address
    • the price paid
    • the date of transfer
    • the property type
    • whether it is new build or not
    • whether it is freehold or leasehold
  4. Price Paid Data can be downloaded in txt, csv format and in a machine readable format as linked data. It is available for anyone to examine or re-use free of charge under the Open Government Licence (OGL).

  5. Price Paid Data includes Standard Price Paid Data (SPPD) for single residential property sales at full market value and Additional Price Paid Data (APPD) for transactions previously excluded from SPPD such as:
    • transfers to a non-private individual, for example a company, corporate body or business
    • transfers under a power of sale (repossessions)
    • buy-to-lets (where they can be identified by a mortgage). The information available for each property will indicate whether it is APPD or SPPD and the record’s status – addition/change/deletion (A/C/D)
  6. The Price Paid Data report builder allows users to build bespoke reports using the data. Reports can be based on location, estate type, price paid or property type over a defined period of time.

  7. As a government department established in 1862, executive agency and trading fund responsible to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Land Registry keeps and maintains the Land Register for England and Wales. The Land Register has been open to public inspection since 1990.

  8. With the largest transactional database of its kind detailing over 24 million titles, Land Registry underpins the economy by safeguarding ownership of many billions of pounds worth of property.

  9. For further information about Land Registry visit www.gov.uk/land-registry.

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Press release: Whitby man handed community order for illegal salmon and sea trout fishing

A Whitby man has been handed a 12-month community order for illegally fishing for salmon and sea trout.

William Arthur Elwick, 53, of Abbot’s Road, Whitby, must now carry out 240 hours of unpaid work after he was sentenced on Friday 24 March at Scarborough Magistrates’ Court.

He had admitted two charges of gill net fishing without a licence after being caught red-handed on 4 July 2016.

Chris Bunting, prosecuting for the Environment Agency, told the court that enforcement officers caught Elwick while they were carrying out night-time patrols along the lower River Esk and tideway.

At around 12.30am near Chainbridge Riverside Retreats, Ruswarp, officers discovered a gill net that was stretched across the full width of the river. They heard splashing at several points of the net where fish had become entangled.

Another gill net was found upstream near Briggswath, again stretching across the full width of the river.

The investigating officers carried out covert surveillance of the nets and called in the police to help search for the culprit. Elwick was found hiding in a bush.

He had in his possession 23 sea trout and two salmon. These were seized, along with his nets and other equipment.

Gill nets are illegal to use within inland waters. An examination of the seized fish revealed clear signs of physical harm including lacerations along fins, with bloodied wounds and scale loss. This damage is consistent with the fish having been captured in an entanglement net, such as a gill net.

A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said after the hearing:

Illegal fishing of this kind is a crime, and we will investigate and prosecute anyone who is caught breaking the law.

The River Esk has a relatively small catchment and any significant illegal fishing activity will inevitably have a major impact on fish populations. The illegal netting of salmon and sea trout poses a threat to the wider ecology of the River Esk, including the fresh water pearl mussel which relies on salmon and sea trout for their life cycle. The Yorkshire Esk is one of the few rivers in the United Kingdom that still has a population of pearl mussels.

We are grateful to North Yorkshire Police for their support in apprehending the defendant. Anyone who believes that illegal fishing is taking place should report the matter to our incident hotline on 0800 807060 so we can investigate.

A representative from the Yorkshire Esk Rivers Trust said after the hearing:

Elwick’s actions were illegal and damaging to the local ecology of the River Esk. This type of crime also has a detrimental impact on the local economy. By taking these fish illegally with the intent of selling them off for personal profit, Elwick is depriving his neighbours up the Esk valley the chance to make legitimate income from these fish which studies have shown are worth about ten times as much to local businesses than the value Eldwick will have gained.

Our message to local people is to be aware of where you buy your fish. Only buy from a reputable seller, and if you believe someone is trading in illegally-caught fish, report the matter to the Environment Agency.

In mitigation, the defendant told the court that he had committed the offences during a period of unemployment and that he would have sold the fish had he not been apprehended. At that point he hadn’t been entitled to benefits and had no income. Elwick is now back in full-time employment.

He was also ordered to pay £2,985 in legal costs.

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