Land Use Framework for England and its implications for the planning regime

In case you missed it before the Easter break, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) published the first ever Land Use Framework for England on 18 March 2026 to set out the vision of how the land should be used, and how the different incentives for land use (housing, domestic food production, nature restoration and clean energy) can be achieved. Underpinning the Framework is the insight that there is enough land to deliver all the objectives if land is used efficiently. Our colleague Zoe Birch explores this in more detail below.

The framework emphasises that it is not a replacement for the planning system, intended to bind decision-makers or even prescribe specific land uses in places. Instead, it seeks to be a blueprint for broad direction that can inform decisions on land use. Defra states that the framework will be updated every 5 years, and that it will continue to refine the analysis and evolve the figures so that this is not be a static document.

Land Use Principles, which are intended to inform national, regional and local strategies and programmes relating to land, as well as the actions of individual landowners, are set out in the Framework. These are:

1. Multifunctionality: land use should be planned and managed to deliver greater benefits across a range of outcomes;
2. Right use, right place: land should be used in ways that align with local context;
3. Future-ready decisions: land use decisions should take a long-term considering with the best available evidence;
4. Adaptive by design: land use policy and delivery should be flexible to evolve and respond to changes.

Whilst these principles are not intended to be a material consideration for the preparation of plans or for decision-making on planning applications or Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects, the Government will allow them to inform the development of policy, including National Policy Statements and the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), as well as delivery mechanisms relating to the use of land. They will also support others to integrate them into their own planning and decision-making.

The framework details a roadmap of Government actions. These include updating the NPPF following the consultation which ended in March 2026, setting out national spatial priorities for infrastructure, developing a coherent set of spatial plans, prioritising the development of Environmental Delivery Plans, establishing a Land Use Unit in Defra to produce a single map of national spatial priorities for Defra outcomes and developing a long term assessment of climate change impacts on land use in 2 degree and 4 degree scenarios to inform spatial priorities.

Finally, the framework sets out ‘visions for land use’ for each land objective (housing, energy, food production, nature recovery, resilient landscapes, water landscapes and communities) which are intended to be adopted or adapted by local and regional areas to match their priorities and shape their own plans for efficient land use. It includes visions for 2030 and 2050 respectively.

If you have any queries, please contact Jen or me.