Written statement: Land Use Framework for England - Mar 18

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Emma Reynolds): Today I am laying before Parliament this Government's first Land Use Framework for England; setting out a vision for how we can best use land.

Land is a fundamental natural asset, the foundation of our lives. The resilience of our homes, businesses, communities and nature itself relies on good land management. We want to make more effective use of land so we can build the homes needed to tackle the housing crisis, generate homegrown clean power, safeguard our food security and restore nature at scale.

Last year we ran a national conversation on land use, seeking views on the various pressures on land and the need for a strategic approach to minimise trade-offs between these important goals and deliver a resilient future. We received over 1200 unique responses to the online consultation from organisations and individuals and gathered feedback through events and focus groups covering all parts of society. Today we also share a report summarising the key messages we heard, and the Framework incorporates the Government's response.

The Land Use Framework shows how we can manage multiple, and sometimes competing, demands for land effectively to make land multi-functional and how we can adapt to the challenge of a changing climate and a growing population. It fulfils the Government's commitment to set out a long-term and strategic approach to how England will use its finite land to support a prosperous and sustainable future.

The Government's new Framework provides decision-makers with a single, shared vision on how we can play to the strengths of our diverse landscapes and enable multifunctional and resilient land use. It is not about telling anyone what to do, but providing the principles, data analysis and policy commitments to enable a more strategic approach that manages trade-offs and optimises benefits. By putting cutting-edge data in the hands of those making decisions on the ground, the Land Use Framework will help to speed up house building and infrastructure delivery, support farm business diversification and profitability, and accelerate environmental improvement.

The Land Use Framework sets out how we will:

• Unlock development and accelerate growth by streamlining spatial planning and aligning local and national priorities. This will reduce uncertainty in planning decisions and clarify local contributions to national targets, helping to lower costs of development and mobilise investment in nature-based solutions that protect homes, businesses and infrastructure from impacts of climate change. We will release data and digital tools required to locate housing and infrastructure in the most appropriate places so that we can accelerate the building of new homes and clean energy infrastructure, whilst also safeguarding food production and restoring nature.

• Support farmers and food security by maintaining overall food production in England. We are safeguarding food production on the most productive farmland, and developing sector growth plans to help improve productivity, profitability and resilience to ensure long-term food security. We will ensure our Agricultural Land Classification system remains fit for purpose to inform planning decisions. Simplified systems for making payments and digitised land data submissions will make it easier for farmers to make decisions, and there will be new or more targeted funds to support land use change activity.
• Protect the environment and adapt to climate change by taking a more strategic approach that ensures there is enough land available to meet our targets in the Environmental Improvement Plan and Carbon Budget Growth and Delivery Plan. We will design farming policy to support climate mitigation and resilience and transition some financial incentives to focus on where they will make the greatest impact.

• Make land digital by putting advanced data in the hands of those making decisions. This will speed up housing and infrastructure development, support farm business resilience, and boost environmental improvement. We will provide access to the tools and mapping systems that decision-makers need to make confident long-term choices, providing transparency and certainty to drive innovative public-private investment.

This is the purpose of the first Land Use Framework for England – to provide a blueprint for smarter land-based decision making. We will work in partnership with farmers, landowners, local government and decision-makers as well as technology providers and academics to deliver this framework.

Publishing the Framework is just the first step. It is not a static document, and we will publish updated analysis on GOV.UK, as well as progress on policy and implementation. Over the next year we will establish a Land Use Unit to put the framework into action, producing the evidence, data and tools, and setting out national spatial priorities for relevant Government outcomes.