The government has declined to provide a deadline for removing the paywall that restricts public access to Land Registry data on large land plots in England and Wales.
Emma Reynolds, the previous secretary of state for the environment, announced in March that the paywall would be partly lifted. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) promised at that time to work towards free access to ownership information.
No timeline has been specified for when this access will become available. The government's refusal to name a date leaves the status of large land ownership records opaque to the public, despite the earlier commitment to transparency.