Policy paper - Land Use Framework
How we can use our land more effectively to increase the
resilience of our homes, communities, infrastructure, and food
systems, while speeding up development and restoring nature.
From: Department for
Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Published 18 March 2026
Last updated 6 May 2026 — See all updates
Applies to England
Documents
Land Use Framework for England
(web-optimised PDF)
Ref: ISBN 978-1-5286-6331-1, E03568609, CP 1545
PDF, 3.68
MB, 58 pages
Land Use Framework for England
(print-ready PDF)
Ref: ISBN 978-1-5286-6331-1, E03568609, CP 1545
PDF, 4.69
MB, 60 pages
The Land Use Framework for
England (accessible)
HTML
Details
The Land Use Framework for England sets out how we can use
our land more effectively.
The government consulted on land use from January to April 2025.
This framework incorporates the government's response to that
consultation. You can read a summary of responses to
the consultation.
The Framework has 3 sections:
-
a vision for England's future landscapes, informed
by sophisticated land use change analysis
-
a set of principles to inform how decisions are made about
land
-
actions we will take to support land use change, in
partnership with others
This is the first Land Use Framework for England. Further
iterations will be published. We will update the
framework every 5 years to reflect progress and incorporate
evolving data and evidence.
Further information
As outlined in the Land Use Framework, we will publish further
detail on our land use analysis and related information as part
of our ongoing national conversation on land use.
You can find further information on the approach that we have
taken to our modelling in the Land Use Consultation Analytical
Annex.
Our revised analysis incorporates the latest government targets,
such as those outlined in the Environmental Improvement
Plan and Clean Power 2030 Action
Plan, and takes account of related information such as the
30by30 Methodology Note.
We also committed to increase access to relevant datasets to
support effective decision-making. This included providing an
open-access National Soil Map of England and Wales (NATMAP) and
publishing a Predictive Agricultural Land Classification (ALC)
map. Read about to how access these on the Defra
environment blog.
