Land Use Framework – can we make it work for nature?

Progress has finally been made on a Land Use Framework (LUF) for England, with Defra publishing a version for consultation.

Will it help nature recovery and resolve competing land demands of climate change, development and food and energy security into a single plan? Or is it window dressing while the real decision making about priorities takes place in the Treasury and Number 10?

What’s the point of having a framework?

A strategic framework to guide land use decisions in England is greatly needed and Defra's consultation stakes out the territory well. There are legitimate and competing pressures for land rights across the country, and principles to guide decision making by central and local government are required to help make effective use of the space we have.

For example, the government has a legal target to significantly increase tree cover in England. But this target is abstract and progress towards it highlights how few tools central government has, beyond just offering generous grants to landowners and hoping for the best. If they get it right, the final LUF should help by highlighting broad priority locations, targeting grants to help 'right tree, right place' and encouraging local decision making that actively contributes to national policies and priorities.

What will the final framework include?

We've only just started the consultation, and the final makeup of the framework is not set in stone. However, it’s important to understand that this is not about setting new policies or targets for nature, food and other issues, but rather creating a single framework which brings decision making together. That needs a cross-governmental set of principles to drive decision making on land use, in line with national government priorities and spatial guidance for local authorities and major landowners on priorities for land use change.

Improving land management for nature is an urgent priority. The government recently received a dressing down from the Office of Environmental Protection over progress with the Environment Act targets¹. The LUF can help by making local nature recovery strategies a core part of the vision, and by steering delivery via spatial prioritisation for countryside stewardship and landscape recovery.

The high-level questions the framework consultation needs to resolve include:

• how to address criticism that the real decisions are economic and are being taken elsewhere
• how decision making will go beyond simply reflecting the past and prepare the country for 1.5-2 degrees of climate change
• how to get the incentives right, so the impressive data behind the plan actually results in land use change in the right places
• how spatial targeting will be taken forward with a focus on supporting local and regional decision making.

The consultation is emerging into a febrile political atmosphere with discussion on the compatibility of economic and environmental policy objectives. As with planning reform, there are concerns the LUF consultation may be used by some within government to highlight the primacy they wish to give to economic growth above all other considerations. The challenge will be to demonstrate how nature is essential for a healthy, growing and sustainable economy.

A final framework is expected to be published in the summer.

¹Office for Environmental Protection (2025). This government has the chance to get on track to meet legal environmental commitments – but the window of opportunity is closing fast warns OEP.