Building Commons Knowledge

The "Building Commons Knowledge" research project will build upon the success of AHRC-funded Contested Common Land project. It will create new pathways to both knowledge exchange and research impact through a programme of community workshops and commons sustainability workshops, and through the development of a new comprehensive online resource for researchers, community groups and public bodies with an interest in the history and contemporary sustainable governance of common land. It will create a comprehensive database and bibliography of commons available to all and will also develop a 'commons community history toolkit' of materials to equip local stakeholders and community groups to capture the history of common land. The project will also build upon the knowledge exchange developed by the Contested Common Land project, and extend it's impact by bringing its research outputs to a wider audience of key policy community members and stakeholders. Finally, the on-funding project will seek to foster sustainable self regulation of the modern commons by stakeholders, and will seek to promote a fuller understanding among key stakeholders of the interaction of common property rights with the legal and economic instruments used to promote sustainable commons management.
The project activities will have two strands: (i) a programme of Community History workshops at which local community groups and commoners will be trained in the use of a community 'toolkit' for recording the histories of their own commons and (ii) two commons sustainability workshops focusing on the ecology of common land and its preservation, and on the role of common land in promoting sustainable rural communities. The project will culminate in a national Conference - "Sustaining the Commons"- for commoners, community groups, other stakeholders, the policy community and representatives of public bodies with responsibility for commons management.
The project's work programme will be delivered with the active participation of two project partners - the Foundation for Common Land and the National Trust. The Foundation for Common Land is the national body representing commoners' associations in England and Wales and has umbrella groupings of commoners in four regions: Cumbria, Yorkshire, Wales and South-West England. The National Trust has, since its inception, been one of the largest owners of common land in England and Wales. The purchase and preservation of common land was one of the principal objectives for which the National Trust was formed and it currently manages 11 per cent of the commons in England. The promotion of the sustainable management of common land is a key policy objective of the Trust, and integral to its wider vision to promote sustainable rural communities. The Trust has a keen interest in new work that helps us to better understand the history of common land resources and how commons function in specific locations, and in work that identifies future management models that take us beyond the 'simple' model of National Trust ownership. The "Building Commons Knowledge" research project will explore these themes in close collaboration with the Trust.

The research objectives identified in the case for support will deepen the impact of the Contested Common Land project. These objectives will secure short term, medium term and long term research impacts of both a direct and indirect nature.
The Contested Common Land project has a proven track record of developing effective research relationships with non-academic stakeholders and policy user groups. These have included DEFRA, Natural England, the Countryside Council for Wales, Welsh Assembly Government, local government, and key stakeholder groups including the National Trust, Federation of Cumbria Commoners, Scottish Crofters Federation, commons associations, local history and archaeology groups. It also contributed to the Foresight Land Use Futures research programme (Government Office for Science), mapping changes in the legal basis of property rights for the effective implementation of environmental protection measures.
1 Short Term Research Impacts
The implementation of schemes for the sustainable management of common land is a key public policy priority. Dialogue with stakeholders and policy user groups during the Contested Common Land Project enabled the project team to identify policy areas and community issues where future engagements will be of particular value. The follow on project will build upon these relationships to secure deeper and more widely based research impacts through a programme of commons community history workshops, and complementary commons sustainability workshops (see case for support paragraph 6). The workshops will therefore have direct short term research impacts that can inform both (i) the development of new models of commons self-regulation by community groups and (ii) the implementation of the Commons Act 2006 by DEFRA and the conservation bodies. The establishment of effective self regulation is also a key requirement for the entry of common land into publicly funded agri-environment schemes such as Higher Level Stewardship in England, and GlasTir in Wales. Participation in agri-environment schemes has multiple benefits for rural communities - securing public funding for environmental land management, contributing to the prevention and reversal of habitat loss and promoting carbon capture through appropriate land management strategies on peat mires in upland areas. The research outcomes will also, therefore, contribute to the promotion of sustainable development and the economic regeneration of rural areas.
2 Medium and Long Term Research Impacts
Medium term impacts (within 1 year following conclusion of the project) and long term impacts (emerging more than 1 year following termination) will be generated by the development of the Commons Knowledge Resource Bank, embedded in the project website. The commons community history workshops will provide a platform for interactive and reflective skills development by local histgory groups and commoners groups and the project team. The sustainability workshops and project conference (Sustaining the Commons) have strong potential to promote economic development and the "green" economy through their contribution to the development of new models for community management of sensitive habitats and landscapes; more effective self regulation of common land and securing agri-environment funding; furthering community education projects; and community engagement activities developing the historical and cultural knowledge base for "common" land, its use and significance in relation to landscape values, cultural identity and perceptions of locality.