The long-awaited Land Use Framework for England was published by DEFRA on Wednesday 18 March. The TFA has said that the Framework is long on aspiration and short on the level of granularity that many will have been hoping for to assist in making local decisions on competing land use needs. Whilst setting out that England’s land is well placed to deliver the multi-functional objectives set upon it, there is little clarity on how that juggling act will be sustained in practice.

There is reference to the importance of farming and food production. However, there is a clear expectation that a significant proportion of agricultural land will be diverted away from food production into nature and climate focused activity. There is also a section specifically addressing the issues for tenant farmers relying heavily on the forthcoming work of the Law Commission to review the body of agricultural tenancy legislation. To read the document in full, click here.

TFA Chief Executive, George Dunn, said: “The Framework rightly stresses the need to break down the barriers that tenant farmers often face in diversifying their activities, even to focus on outcomes for nature alongside their traditional farming activities. However, the forthcoming Law Commission review is still a year away from starting and will then take at least three years to complete. The Government must work with the Law Commission to bring its review forward and to deliver it within a shorter time frame to ensure that the tenanted sector is not left behind as this new policy Framework develops”.  To read the full reaction of the TFA to the Land Use Framework, click here.