England's Land Use Framework (LUF), is the government's first coordinated plan for how land across the country should be used. It sets out how land can best meet multiple demands - from food production to housing, major infrastructure, water management and nature recovery. The plan aims to manage competing demands, seeking multiple benefits for any location, and to make sure the right land uses are priortised in the right places, including considering any knock-on effects.
Our food system is dangerously vulnerable to shocks like war and climate change, and without strategic direction, competing pressures on a finite land base risk undermining both national food security and accelerating environmental harms. LUF is supposed to inform better land use decision through better data availability — including updated land classifications and a new national soil map — and a more joined-up planning system which integrates the many plans, policies and strategies that shape land use.
Below, reproduced from their newsletter by kind permission, is Herefordshire Rural Hub’s commentary on what this new framework means for Herefordshire.
Land Use Framework: What it Means for Herefordshire Farms and Landowners
England’s land is under increasing pressure to deliver food production, housing, clean energy and nature recovery. For Herefordshire, where productive farmland and important landscapes sit alongside growing environmental priorities, balancing these demands is key.
The Government launched England’s first Land Use Framework in March 2026 to support more joined-up decision-making. It aims to provide clearer guidance, improved mapping data and tools to help farmers, landowners and communities plan how land is used.
The framework highlights working with the strengths of local landscapes — such as Herefordshire’s mixed farming systems and river catchments — while maintaining food production and creating space for nature recovery and development. A key commitment is to “make land digital”, improving access to environmental data to support better local decisions.
For farming, the framework includes a long-term commitment to maintain food production, safeguard productive agricultural land and improve farm productivity. It also signals simplified payment systems, more digital processes and better data to help farmers future-proof businesses against extreme weather and market changes.
The approach is intended to ensure decisions about housing, energy infrastructure and nature recovery are considered together, while protecting high-quality farmland and supporting nature-based solutions such as flood management.
Over the next year, a dedicated Land Use Unit will be established to help deliver the framework and align national and local plans, marking a more joined-up approach to how land is managed across areas like Herefordshire.
At this stage, it’s important to say this is largely direction of travel rather than immediate change. A number of tools and datasets are still to come – including new national maps, land capability data and a clearer picture of how public money is being spent – which will help show what this actually means on the ground. We’ll keep a close eye on what’s released over the coming months and translate it into practical, farmer-friendly guidance. For now, it’s one to be aware of, not act on – and Herefordshire Rural Hub will share more once it’s available.
Do make sure you are signed up to their newsletter for monthly Herefordshire farming and rural business updates.
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Key Considerations from Food Systems Perspective:
Avoiding a food/nature trade-off. The LUF recognises that Food production can run in parallel with nature recovery. Farmland can be managed in a nature-friendly and regenerative way, promoting soil health and supporting biodiversity and other ecosystem services, such as healthy water supplies, on which our society relies.
What food we produce matters, not just how much. Soil Association analysis argues that the LUF must go beyond maintaining production volumes and address the type of food grown. Considering the mix of livestock, arable and fruit and vegetables – including mor UK-grown plant protein sources such as beans and pulses.
Role of Horticulture. Less than two per cent of agricultural land is used for horticulture production and the UK is very food insecure. A horticulture growth strategy is a key element for food system resilience. The LUF commits to developing a portfolio of sector growth plans, beginning with horticulture but also more worringly poultry –the environmental impacts of industrial poultry production is a key issue in our River Wye Catchment.
The risk of offshoring environmental harm. Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN) analysis highlights that there is little detail in the plan around this and raises a concern that government focus on food export markets, creates a tension. The risk of exporting more higher value food, is that in counterbalance, we import more cheaper food commodities and produce, which are often produced with greater environmental impacts elsewhere in the world.
Defining national food security. A practical gap remains: the LUF's commitment to maintain levels of domestic food production leaves open the question of what that actually means in practice — whether this should be measured by value, tonnage, or consumable calories. Without a clear definition it will be hard to effectively track national food security.
If you want to read more commentary from these perspectives, see:
https://www.nffn.org.uk/resources/the-land-use-framework-for-england-is-out-so-now-what