The Land Use Framework: A Moment to Make Our Case

Andrew Gilruth
1 hour ago
5 min read

KEY TAKEAWAY: The Land Use Framework demands active engagement. Members must confidently prove moorland management delivers essential environmental benefits , ensuring practical expertise shapes future policy.

The Government’s new Land Use Framework for England is an important document. Not because it is the final word on the future of our uplands (it is not) but because it tells us something about the direction of policy in the years ahead.

It is not new law, it does not directly rewrite planning policy, and it does not by itself dictate how individual holdings should be managed. But it does underline just how important it is that the voice of those who know these landscapes best is heard clearly and early.

The case for active moorland management

For Moorland Association members, this is a call for engagement. Much of what government says it wants from land (climate resilience, healthy peat, biodiversity, water management, wildfire prevention and thriving rural communities) is already being delivered in many places through active moorland management. Our job now is to make that case with confidence, consistency and evidence.

More than one use, more than one outcome

At the heart of the framework is the idea that land should deliver multiple benefits. The document talks about “multifunctionality” and “right use, right place” - in other words, government increasingly wants land to prove the public benefits it seeks.

On one level, that is nothing new. Moorland managers have long understood that these landscapes are asked to do many things at once. The question is whether government is prepared to recognise the full value of active, working moorland management in delivering those outcomes.

Why this framework matters on the ground

That is why this framework matters. It creates an opportunity for us to speak up for what good management already achieves on the ground. Too often, upland policy is discussed as though these places are blank spaces on a map, waiting to be redesigned from Whitehall.

Members know the reality is very different. Our moorlands are lived-in, worked-in, carefully managed landscapes, with deep local knowledge behind them. Any serious conversation about their future must start there.

A debate we must engage in

There are, however, areas in the framework where we will need to engage firmly and constructively. The most notable comes in the section on recreational land and shooting. The Government says it will work with the sector and others to explore “wider measures such as licensing and any associated conditions for recreational gamebird shooting and release”, going beyond current controls near protected sites.

It is not yet a settled policy, and the document says any changes would be subject to consultation. But it is clearly one of the most significant issues in the framework, and one on which the Moorland Association will need to make its case very clearly indeed.

Confidence, not alarmism

The right response is not alarmism. It is confidence. If government wants to ask more searching questions about how land is managed, then moorland managers are well placed to answer them.

We know that peat condition, wildfire prevention, grazing, predator management, heather condition, rural jobs, habitat mosaics and landscape character are not separate boxes to be ticked one by one. They are interconnected realities that have to be managed together, carefully and practically, over time.

Peat, restoration and the reality on the ground

The framework also places strong emphasis on peatland restoration, carbon storage, biodiversity and water outcomes. Again, Moorland owners and managers have every reason to be part of that conversation, because nobody has a greater interest in the long-term health of these landscapes.

The key point is that policy must recognise complexity. Restoration cannot sensibly be reduced to slogans, nor can the future of the uplands be built on one-size-fits-all assumptions. Good outcomes depend on practical management, local knowledge and a clear understanding that these are dynamic landscapes, not museum pieces.

Why mapping and targeting matter

Another important feature of the framework is the move toward more spatial targeting - in other words, more mapping of priorities for food, nature, water, climate and land use change (this means officials will increasingly decide which land they think is best suited to particular outcomes - and that will affect both policy pressure and future funding).

This matters because the maps and models produced in the next few years are likely to shape how policy is directed and where funding flows. That makes it all the more important that the uplands are understood properly. Members should see this as a reminder that if others are going to map the future of moorland, then we must be ready to influence the assumptions behind those maps.

Why future funding matters

The same is true of public funding. The framework makes clear that future Environmental Land Management support and other incentives will be increasingly targeted toward where government believes they can have the greatest effect. That means the arguments made now about the value of active moorland management will have real consequences later.

If our landscapes are seen only through a narrow restoration lens, policy will become narrower too. If, on the other hand, we can show that well-managed moorland already delivers a wide range of public benefits, then there is a much stronger basis for sensible, balanced policy.

Stewardship must be grounded in practice

There is also an important point of tone here. The framework sometimes reads as though the future of land use will be decided by identifying the “best” use for each place from the top down. Moorland Association members know that real stewardship does not work like that.

The best outcomes in the uplands come from long-term commitment, practical judgment and the ability to balance sometimes competing priorities in the real world. That is not an argument against change. It is an argument for grounding change in experience rather than abstraction.

A strong case to make

And that is where members should take heart. We have a powerful case to make. Moorland management supports local jobs and businesses. It helps sustain some of our most iconic landscapes. It can support habitat diversity, species recovery, wildfire mitigation and water outcomes.

It preserves cultural traditions while also providing practical stewardship in places where simply stepping back is rarely a neutral option. Those arguments are real, they are relevant, and they need to be made with confidence.

The work ahead

The months ahead will matter. Members should be in no doubt: your experience on the ground will matter in shaping what comes next. There will be further debate about land use, peat, restoration, incentives and regulation. On some issues, we will need to push back hard.

On others, we will need to engage constructively to ensure policy reflects reality on the ground. But we should do all of that from a position of confidence, not defensiveness.

The Moorland Association and its members have something important to say in this debate. We know that good moorland management is not a relic to be tolerated, nor a problem to be explained away. Done well, it is a living example of how people, nature and rural enterprise can coexist in some of England’s most challenging and valuable landscapes.

A moment to speak up

The Land Use Framework may shape the debate ahead, but it does not settle it. That work still lies in front of us. And with the experience, commitment and knowledge within our membership, we are well placed to make the case for a future in which active, responsible moorland management remains central to the life of the uplands.