Land Use Futures - Making the most of land in the 21st century

This Project has taken a broad and overarching look at the future of UK land use over the next 50 years. It demonstrates that there is a strong case to develop a much more strategic approach: to guide incremental land use change, incentivise sustainable behaviours, and to
unlock value from land.

To download all of the project outputs please visit the Foresight website at: www.foresight.gov.uk/OurWork/ActiveProjects/LandUse/lufoutputs.asp [2]

To download the executive summary directly, click on the link below:

• Land Use Futures: making the most of land in the 21st century (0.7MB) Executive summary [3]

This report shows that a reappraisal is vital to help address major challenges ahead – for example, relating to demographic shifts, climate change, and rising demand for commercial and residential development in areas such as the South East of England.

The challenge is to meet the rising expectations which will come with rising incomes; and to deliver a wider range of sustainable benefits from land. In particular, a more coherent and consistent approach is needed for managing the growing demands on land – at different levels of Government, and across the wider community of stakeholders involved in the many land use sectors.

This is a good reference point for work within the region’s Climate Change Action Plan – especially the Land Management theme.

The report isn’t all about Climate Change, but the subject does receive significant attention, and the Exec Summary does helpfully frame some useful questions for us all to consider.