CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1  BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. It also has been defined as “the total of arrangements, activities, and inputs that people undertake in a certain land cover type.

There is bound to be conflict over land use. The demands for arable land, grazing, forestry, wildlife, tourism and property development are greater than the land resources available (Ratcliff, 1999). In the developing countries including Nigeria, these demands become more pressing every year. The population dependent on the land for food, fuel and employment will double within the next 25 to 50 years based on matthus population theory is not checked. Even where land is still plentiful, many people may have inadequate access to land or to the benefits from its use especially for property development.  Land must change to meet new demands yet change brings new conflicts between competing uses of the land and between the interests of individual land users and the common good.

Land is a private property, its ownership and use is protected by the constitution (Farmer and Gibb, 1979). It is the free gift of nature to mankind. Every activity of man as of necessity takes place on land and as a result of increased activities there arose conflicts in different land uses. One land use tends to succeed another, where this is no control of such succession and use. Ratcliff (1999) states that succession of land use for its own sake is hardly desirable and change in advance of the appropriate time will only contribute to the inefficiency of the urban structure. He also argued that there are times when succession appear to lag behind the needs of the community, when actually, the fundamental factors that call for a readjustment of land uses are not present. Thus, the need for spatial ordering of land use with a view to creating functionally efficient and aesthetically pleasing environment for living, circulation and recreation, becomes imperative.

The creation of a balanced land use system (urban equilibrium), that is, the provision of adequate land for the various land uses, consistent with the creation of functionally efficient physical environment, is the objective of the land use allocation. Land use allocation is to ensure the best utilization of land in the national interest, and to prevent individual land owners from using the land to the detriment of the people (Lawal, 2000).

There have been several concerns in the recent times as to the procedure involved in the allocation of land for property development. It ranges from the high cost to the fraudulent activities attached to land for property development. This is inspite of their common right to develop their land, as they like, provided they do not cause any nuisance or interfere with the rights of others. Land use allocation necessarily has to do with the siting of buildings and communication routes with objectives of achieving equilibrium between convenience, beauty and cost.

According to Nwanekezie (2009), land use allocation determines where residential buildings and even new industries should be located, how raw materials can be transported to them, and their products distributed to market, where the employees should live, how they would get to work, where schools and other institutions should be situated.

The basic principle of allocation is that adequate land should be set aside for each uses at the onset in appropriate locations pending the time they will be needed and or funds will be available for their provision or development. This is because it takes at least ten to twenty years to fully develop a residential neighborhood for instance, and it is not possible to provide at the initial stage of development all the facilities and services proposed in a layout plan even if money is not a constraint. Their provision of development is normally spread over time to keep peace with the development states of the neighborhood.

1.2   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The problems are stated in the following statements:

(1)  Various land uses abound in the area

(2)  There is a mixture of land uses in urban areas

(3)   Land use allocation are prone to obstacles

1.3   OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The general objective of this study is on the impact of effective land use allocation on residential property value in Port Harcourt. The following specific objective are to be consider:

1. To assess the various land uses in the area.
2. To determine the effectiveness of land use allocation in an urban area.
3. To identify the factors militating against land use allocation on residential property.

1.4   RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What are the various land uses in the area?
2. What is the effectiveness of land use allocation in the area?
3. What are the factors militating against land use allocation in the area?

1.5   SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The following are the significance of this study:

1. The outcome of this study will educate the general public on the essence of land use allocation and as well enlighten them on the effectiveness of the procedure to facilitate convenient residential property development process.
2. This research will be a contribution to the body of literature in the area of the effect of personality trait on student’s academic performance, thereby constituting the empirical literature for future research in the subject area.

1.6    SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of the study is center on the impact of effective land use allocation on residential property value in Port Harcourt Rivers State.

1.7   LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The following are the constraints to the research:

1. FINANCIAL CONSTRAINT: Finance is the key to the success of every research work and the said finance was readily unavailable on my part as at the time I was carrying out this research.
2. TIME CONSTRAINT: The time stipulated for the submission of this work was obviously too short.
3. RESPONDENTS ATTITUDE: The respondents that were interviewed, where not willing to give key information that is very useful to this research study.

1.8    DEFINITION OF TERMS

LAND USE: Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods.

RESIDENCE: A residence is an establishment where it was originally or currently being used by a host as their main place of dwelling or home.

LAND USE ALLOCATION: Land use allocation means the allocation of agricultural land parcels to individuals or organizations in the village agricultural land use zone.

IMPACT: Impact is the act of one body, object, etc, striking another

PROPERTY VALUE: Property value is an estimate of what a home or a piece of land is actually worth; the price may be higher or lower.