- The Government has launched a consultation on a new approach to land use empowering decision makers with the toolkit to protect the most productive agricultural land and boost food security.
- New sophisticated data on how land is used will underpin the Government's Plan for Change, supporting economic growth through building 1.5 million homes and delivering critical infrastructure, securing clean power, protecting farmland and restoring the natural world.
- The consultation will seek views from farmers, landowners, businesses and nature groups across the length and breadth of the country.
The Government is today (Friday 31 January) launching a consultation on a new strategic approach to managing land use in England to give decision makers the data they need to protect our most productive agricultural land, boosting Britain's food security in a time of global uncertainty and a changing climate.
This will support the Government's missions under the Plan for Change, including delivering new housebuilding, energy infrastructure and new towns.
Using the most sophisticated land use data ever published, the Land Use Framework will provide the principles, advanced data and tools to support decision-making by local government, landowners, businesses, farmers, and nature groups to make the most of our land. This will help deliver the different objectives we have for England's finite land, including growing food, building 1.5 million homes this parliament, and restoring nature.
As part of a national conversation, there will be workshops across the country, bringing farmers and landowners to the table, to put the insights of the people who manage our landscapes at the centre of our work to develop a final Land Use Framework.
Protecting UK food security and pursuing our mission for economic growth go hand-in-hand – with the highest quality agricultural land already protected for food production whilst kickstarting the economy by building new housing and rolling out renewable energy to make the UK a clean energy superpower.
Local planning will benefit from data outlined in the Land Use Framework, combined with the energy and housing spatial plans and a new food strategy. This will ensure we build 1.5 million new homes over five years, a generation of new towns, and the energy infrastructure needed to achieve Clean Power by 2030, while protecting food security and our natural world.
Speaking at the launch at the Royal Geographical Society, the Secretary of State for the Environment Steve Reed will set out how we will protect farmland and unlock growth.
He is expected to say:
"Today is the start of a national conversation to transform how we use land in this country. It's time for policy to leave the chambers of Westminster and reflect the actual lived experiences of farmers, landowners and planners on the ground.
"Using the most sophisticated land use data ever published, we will transform how we use our land to deliver on our Plan for Change. That means enabling the protection of prime agricultural land, restore our natural world and drive economic growth.
"This framework will not tell people what to do.
"It is about working together to pool our knowledge and resources, to give local and national government, landowners, businesses, farmers and nature groups the data and tools they need to take informed actions that are best for them, best for the land, and best for the country."
Speaking about farmland, he will go on to say:
"This Government has a cast-iron commitment to maintain long-term food production.
"The primary purpose of farming will always be to produce food that feeds the nation.
"This framework will give decision makers the toolkit they need to protect our highest quality agricultural land."
This vision for land is one in which we guarantee our long-term food security and future-proof our farm businesses, support new housebuilding and energy infrastructure, and reduce conflicts that hold up development by creating land with multiple benefits – supporting economic growth on the limited land we have available.
The Framework will help farm businesses to maximise the potential of multiple uses of land, supporting long-term food production capacity and unlocking opportunities for businesses to drive private finance into the sector. It will support the need to incentivise multi-functional land use that includes food production.
We will also consult on how data can be used in some planning decisions to improve the resilience of our food system to flooding risk.
Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary, Angela Rayner said:
"Today marks an important step forward in our journey to build the 1.5 million new homes that we desperately need.
"This new approach will make better use of our land and grasp the opportunities to deliver new homes and infrastructure in the areas most in need, achieving win-win results for both development and the environment.
"Our Plan for Change is going even further to dismantle the barriers holding back growth, so we can raise living standards, get more families onto the property ladder, and deliver a better future for our children and grandchildren."
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said:
"The biggest threat to nature and food security is the climate crisis, which threatens our best farmland, food production and the livelihoods of farmers.
"As we deliver our mission for the UK to become a clean energy superpower as part of the Plan for Change, we will ensure a proper balance between food security, nature preservation and clean energy.
"We can roll out renewables in a way that is both positive for our energy security and our environment."
Sue Pritchard, Chief Executive, Food, Farming and Countryside Commission said:
"With so many of the government's missions reliant on good land use decisions, Steve Reed's announcement today could not be more timely. Setting out clear principles, and working across government departments, we're pleased to see that the land use consultation focuses on mechanisms for delivery. Our work in Devon and Peterborough and Cambridgeshire proves that farmers and land managers, communities, local authorities, green groups and businesses are keen to work together to help shape a Land Use framework."
The next stages of development will involve extensive sector engagement in a collaborative process as we design a final Land Use Framework – informed by the views of landowners, businesses, farmers, and nature groups. This evidence will also feed into the wider reform that we are delivering in the sector through the Farming Roadmap and Food Strategy.
The consultation will run for 12 weeks with the final Land Use Framework published later in the year. This will deliver a key manifesto commitment as part of our Plan for Change.
NFU responds to land use framework consultation
Responding to the government launch of a consultation on the land use framework, NFU President Tom Bradshaw said: "The UK is a small island nation and there are huge demands being made on land including housebuilding, requirements for biodiversity net gain, leisure and recreation and critical national infrastructure.
"With competition for that land ever increasing, and to deliver on the government commitment that food security is national security, we must have a land use plan in place, underpinned by sound science and evidence, that has British food at its heart and ensures we make the best use of our most productive agricultural land.
"Our countryside needs to remain a multifunctional, dynamic space; one that creates a thriving, profitable farming industry and enables Britain's farmers and growers to continue producing more sustainable, affordable homegrown food while carrying out important work in caring for the environment, creating more jobs and supporting greener energy security.
"Alongside, we need a trade policy to match this ambition with a robust system of core standards for food imports that protect farmers and consumers from imported food that would be illegal to produce here. That's why we are also asking for targets for British food production, just as the government has rightly legislated for targets on the environment.
"Over the past 18 months, the UK farming industry has taken a battering. Volatile input costs, commodity prices on the floor in some sectors, a reduction in direct payments, one of the wettest periods in decades, and a brutal Budget delivered by this government. All have left their mark and have put homegrown food production under serious pressure. It's imperative this framework does not further restrict farmers' ability to produce the nation's food.
"To ensure farming, as the sector that provides the raw ingredients to the nation's largest manufacturing sector, food and drink, which is worth more than £140 billion to the nation's economy, continues to contribute to this government's economic growth ambitions, we need investment. Investment to grow the farming sector and see it deliver on its potential for increased productivity. Above all, we need transparency, engagement and a government that is willing to listen. Only then will we get a land use framework that delivers for consumers, for the environment and for British agriculture.
"We will of course examine the government consultation in detail once it is available and ensure the 44,000 farmer and grower members of the NFU have the opportunity to feed back."