Analysis of demand for land consolidation works in Poland – A case study of the Bałtów commune

This publication presents the scope of analyses and the results of the study on de-mand for land consolidation works in a hitherto unexplored area of Poland, located in the cadastral districts of the Bałtów commune. The authors analysed the spatial structure of the area under study, resulting in rankings (developed using statistical methods) of the areas which should be included in the land consolidation process in the first place. These rankings were based on selected diagnostic factors, described in detail and selected on the basis of own research and literature patterns. The study area comprises fourteen cadastral districts with a total area of 105.04 km2, consi-sting of a total of 18 245 cadastral plots. The analysis was performed for source data obtained from official databases, including the Land and Property Register of the Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski County Starosty. The study examined the structure of land possession and use as well as selected parameters of the internal plot patchwork. The study also examined the productivity of soils and the size of the external plot patchwork. In addition, land exchange in the Bałtów commune was simulated. On the basis of this study, a ranking was developed showing the hierarchy of the defective spatial structure of the cadastral districts. The results were verified using several known statistical methods, namely the SAW, the unitisation with zero minimum method (MUZ) and the TOPSIS. Using the SAW method in a comparison with the popular zero-unitarisation and TOPSIS methods may be regarded as a new contribution to the subject knowledge.