The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has welcomed the ‘intelligent principles for decision making’ set out in Defra’s Land Use Framework (LUF) consultation.
There should now be a focus on finalising and operationalising the LUF, says the OEP’s consultation response.
Dame Glenys Stacey, the OEP’s Chair, said: “We welcome the prospect of a more coherent approach to land use policy and spatial prioritisation, and we find much to commend in the proposed framework.
“The consultation rightly focuses on balancing land use objectives for the environment, climate and food production. As it covers around two thirds of England’s land, farmland presents the greatest opportunity to make space for nature, yet it falls largely outside of current spatial planning frameworks. The consultation is clear about the significant scale and pace of land use change needed to deliver targets for nature recovery and Net Zero.
“We welcome the intelligent principles for decision-making set out in the consultation. Maximising the benefits of the land will depend on balancing multifunctionality, while playing to the strengths of the land, and foresight of long-term opportunities and risks, including from climate change.
“The focus now should be on finalising and operationalising the LUF. It must become an integral and influential framework to bring much needed coherence to land use policy.”
The OEP’s full response to the LUF consultation can be downloaded via the blue button to the right of this page.
