A consortium headed by Canadian IT company MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates is to run the National Land Information Service (NLIS). The consortium’s other members are the Law Society, the Halifax bank, IT company Hays and GIS provider Laser-Scan.
The consortium will be responsible for setting up and managing the “hub” of the new service, a web-accessible database of land information services provided by the Land Registry and all local authorities in England and Wales.
Once the “hub” is in place, the government will award up to four licences to provide channels to different types of information. The channels will specialise in the provision of local authority and land registry searches, as well as environmental data.
Launching NLIS, Lord Chancellor Derry Irvine said that a dramatic cut in the time it took to obtain information on land and property would deal a heavy blow to gazumping. He also described the project as “an important component in helping to make e-conveyancing a reality.”
NLIS’s website address is: http://www.nlis.org.uk.
References: EGi News 19/07/00
