Effects of land consolidation

Abstract

It is important to note that in Norway land consolidation remains the exclusive domain of the court system. There are three cumulative requirements that must be fulfilled before land consolidation can proceed in Norway. (1) The Land Consolidation Court may effectuate land consolidation if at least one property or easement in the land consolidation area is difficult to use gainfully at the current time and under the current circumstances. (2) The Land Consolidation Court may only proceed in this way in order to make the property arrangements in the land consolidation area more advantageous. (3) For any given property or easement, the land consolidation settlement shall not result in costs and other disbenefits that are greater than the benefits. All three criteria must be fulfilled. In this article, we present and analyse cases taken before the Norwegian Land Consolidation Court using case studies, surveys and qualitative interviews with property owners and judges at the land consolidation courts. The observed effects of land consolidation are separated into economic and spatial, legal, environmental and social effects. Our analysis shows that the effects of land consolidation are difficult to estimate or to calculate. There is a need to develop better methods both for valuations and impact studies.