Government launches consultation on new Land Use Framework

Share

News Sustainable Farming Campaign

Published: Friday 31 January 2025

Over the next 12 weeks, the consultation will seek views from farmers, landowners, businesses and nature groups across the country in order to help design a final Land Use Framework. 

The Government has launched a consultation on the long-awaited Land Use Framework.  The Framework, originally announced by the former Conservative government, is intended to guide decision making at the local level when it comes to land, thus enabling them to balance the needs of food production, nature restoration, climate change mitigation, and the building of new infrastructure.  

The consultation will seek views from farmers, landowners, businesses and nature groups across the country in order to help design a final Land Use Framework. The consultation will run for 12 weeks, with the final Land Use Framework set to be published in summer 2025. 

The Land Use Framework consultation has 5 objectives: 

  1. Make space for nature recovery, water, and emission reduction 
  2. Support sustainable and resilient food production 
  3. Deliver new infrastructure and housing 
  4. Fix the foundations for resilient long-term economic growth 
  5. Co-create plans for delivery 

In the consultation evidence, the Government set out what they describe as a ‘balanced approach to meeting our range of priorities’. This has a scenario where around 9% of agricultural land will be fully dedicated to delivering environmental and climate benefits, through creating habitats, re-wetting peat, and planting trees. Under the scenario projected, most agricultural land will need to some form undertake land management changes by 2050 in order to reach the broad environmental targets on soil health. The framework also emphasises the multifunctional potential of agriculture will be harnessed to produce food and deliver environmental benefits.  

The consultation emphasises that the principles will protect land with the greatest long-term potential for production, and how these strategic land-use decisions will protect farmland from increasing threat of flooding and drought.  

Speaking at the launch, the Secretary of State for the Environment Steve Reed set out how we will protect farmland and unlock growth.       

“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.”

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.      

Will White, Sustainable Farming Coordinator at Sustain, said: 

“How we make space for nature, carbon sequestration, new infrastructure, and food production is a profound challenge that demands a clear, strategic framework - one that can’t simply be left to the market.

While land-use will need to change to meet our environmental and long-term food security targets, with the right policy, this shift can be a real opportunity for farmers. By supporting diversification into forestry, habitat creation, and other nature-friendly practices, farm businesses can thrive economically while meeting the multiple demands on the land. However, current support for these transitions is insufficient, which is why it’s crucial for the government to properly fund and expand its Environmental Land Management schemes. 

This consultation is a welcome step, but it must be backed up by ambitious policy and support to enable farmers to deliver the multi-functional landscapes needed to meet our climate, nature, and food security targets.” 

Ruth Westcott, Climate and Nature Manager at Sustain, said:

"Time is running out to shift our food system to one that copes with - rather than causes - the climate and nature emergency. As the government acknowledges, we need to reduce the amount of land being farmed to follow the UK’s net zero strategy. We can free up space for nature and greatly improve food security if the government supports producing more food from plants like pulses, legumes and vegetables, rather than clinging to high-emission, land-hungry systems like industrial livestock farming. But the government needs to invest in this transition to agroecology as a route to creating economic growth in rural areas, and that means turning this framework into clear and progressive policy.” 

Next steps: Sustain’s response and how to get involved 

The Sustain alliance will submit response to the consultation, which closes on the 25 April 2025. Sustain alliance members will use our working structures, such as our Farming Working Party, to deliberate on the feedback we will put forward to help ensure the UK has the Land Use Framework it needs. 

If you are a member organisation and would like to be part of this process, please contact Will White at will@sustainweb.org 

Follow this link to submit to the consultation.

 

 


Sustainable Farming Campaign: Sustain encourages integration of sustainable food and farming into local, regional and national government policies.

Sustain
The Green House
244-254 Cambridge Heath Road
London E2 9DA

020 3559 6777
sustain@sustainweb.org

Sustain advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, promote equity and enrich society and culture.

© Sustain 2025
Registered charity (no. 1018643)
Data privacy & cookies
Icons by Icons8

Sustain