Pressure on land is growing. The government has committed to planting trees, restoring nature, building housing, tackling flooding, producing food and more. Many of these targets overlap, and compete for space. Land, and the people who depend on it, are often the silent partner in these decisions, suffering the impact without having a voice in the process.

The Geospatial Commission launch of its National Land Data Programme is a welcome response to this challenge, says Food, Farming and Countryside Commission’s Senior Land Use Researcher Dr Alison Caffyn:

“The programme adds to the growing evidence for a broad, inclusive and evidence-based Land Use Framework. A Land Use Framework is a new approach for making better decisions about how we use land, being tested out in English communities as we speak. The framework will to help local leaders navigate the competing demands on the finite land we have, and allow people to find the solutions that work for their community.”

The Geospatial Commission’s Land Use Dialogues will bring together land use decision makers with modelling practitioners from government, academia and industry to test drive key policy challenges.

“We’re looking forward to contributing to these, and bringing the experiences of citizens and local stakeholders from our land use framework pilots in Devon and Cambridgeshire,” added Dr Caffyn.

“The pace of innovation and change that we’re seeing coming from communities across the UK at the moment shows how possible it is for government ambitions to be met, when people are given the tools and the resources to take action.”

A Land Use Framework in 2023 is a government commitment under the food strategy, and the House of Lords Committee on Land Use is due to report on this later in the year.

We're partnering with British Geological Survey to pilot an inclusive and evidence-led Land Use Framework in Devon