Six months on from the Land Use Framework, are we using England’s land more strategically?

The recent scramble for the Sustainable Farming Incentive showed why England urgently needs a more strategic approach to land use. Around £233 million was allocated within six hours, on a first come first served basis, with no consideration of where this public money could deliver the greatest benefits. Yet farms in different parts of the country feel pressures differently, whether from drought or flooding or pollution. For farm businesses to be more productive and climate resilient while restoring nature, funding must reflect those local challenges and national priorities.

Thankfully, the government has a headstart. Published in March 2026, the Land Use Framework lays the foundations for a more targeted approach. Its 79 commitments set out a strategy for making the best use of England’s land. It reveals that, if used effectively, there is enough land for everything we need: food production, nature, climate mitigation, housing, energy infrastructure and more.

Just over six months on, we’re looking at how delivery against the framework is going. Our new Land Use Framework Tracker explores this in full.

So far, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has achieved eight of the framework’s commitments (ten per cent). This includes setting up a Land Use Unit, a promising sign that the framework won’t just sit on a shelf.

On our assessment, just under half the commitments in the framework have seen some sort of progress. But while this is a positive start, key datasets needed to measure progress and underpin decision making are still missing.

Unless the framework’s commitments are all converted into action, policy that improves national resilience, food production and the environment is still a long way off.

We judge that the following actions are needed across four areas:

1. Rapidly get the foundations in place
The Land Use Framework consultation included a set of national maps which illustrated where habitat creation should be targeted to minimise trade-offs. But important data gaps remain. Defra has yet to produce a map which brings together its priorities across food production, nature recovery, water, climate change, infrastructure and housing into a single unified spatial picture. Furthermore, existing maps do not reflect how climate change will reshape England’s landscapes, or how land management needs to adapt. Building this information into policies that influence land use is a core promise of the framework.

These foundational datasets are needed because the government does not know where changes in land management would be most beneficial, or where changes could lead to significant trade-offs. Understanding this will be vital to ensure environmental outcomes don’t come at the expense of food production.

2. Understand how local action adds up to national success
To make the best use of England’s land, the Land Use Framework will need to combine national datasets with existing local and regional plans.

Under the Environment Act, 48 responsible authorities across England were tasked with developing Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRSs) to set out what it would take to achieve local nature recovery. Almost all of these have now been created and, last month, Defra announced £26 million for their implementation. However, the government doesn’t know how far these plans meet national legally binding nature targets, which is why the Land Use Framework promised to bring together all the LNRSs into a single map in 2026. There have been no updates on how this is progressing.

By knowing what will be achieved through LNRSs, the government can examine how to make up any shortfall. By considering this alongside other spatial data, Defra will also be able to identify exactly where land use change is most needed, mitigating the risk of resources being misplaced.

3. Transform plans into strategy 
Maps only matter if they influence policy. Around 70 per cent of England is farmed, so the government must use the data showing what is needed to meet national commitments to influence its agri-environment schemes. Spatial targeting will be vital to improve value for money in the use of the farming budget, but Defra is yet to set out how this targeting will work in practice.

The Land Use Framework committed to build spatial targeting into farm payments under the Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMs), starting with the Sustainable Farming Incentive in 2027 and Countryside Stewardship by 2030. The Landscape Recovery scheme is set to become ‘spatially prioritised’, suggesting Defra will be more selective about where projects are located, without becoming more prescriptive about individual actions. The Farming Roadmap 2050, published in June, confirmed the intention to adopt a more targeted approach to meeting Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) targets.

Before targeting can begin, Defra must publish the evidence and assumptions it will be based on. The Land Use Framework promised that analysis underpinning any updates to SFI in 2027 would be made available by the end of this year. Defra should keep to this timetable so the farming sector has time to feedback on any proposed changes before the scheme opens, and rollout can be adjusted accordingly.

4. Turn the framework into action
Ultimately the Land Use Framework must be judged on whether it leads to more strategic land use, nature recovery and a more resilient food system.

This requires more than just Defra delivering on its own commitments. Decisions across government, on farming, planning, water, housing and infrastructure, will all need to pull in the same direction if the framework is to have any significant impact.

Public funding should be targeted at where it can make the greatest difference. While policies that create reliable demand for private investment, in such benefits as nature recovery and flood mitigation, are essential to achieve progress at the pace required.

We will update on progress every six months through our tracker, to report on whether the framework’s maps, data and promises are translating into meaningful change. Six months in, the foundations are starting to emerge, but the task now is to build on them with greater urgency.

See our Land Use Framework Tracker to find out more about progress on the government’s commitments.