e-Digest Statistics about: Land Use and Land Cover
Land use
Land use refers to the main activity taking place on an area of land, for example, farming, forestry or housing. Land cover refers specifically to the make up of the land surface, for example, whether it comprises arable crops, trees or buildings.
Table 1 shows the proportions of land used for different purposes in 2005 for each of the UK countries. The figures for agricultural land use are derived from the Agricultural and Horticultural Censuses carried out by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the other UK Agricultural Departments in June each year. Information on the area of forest and woodland in Great Britain is provided by the Forestry Commission (FC) and for Northern Ireland by the Forest Service, an agency of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD). Data covers both private and state-owned land.
There is no comparable source of information on the amount of urban land in the UK, and the figures for the "Urban land and land not otherwise specified" in Table 1 are derived by subtracting the area of land used for agriculture and forestry from the total land area. The figures include land under non-agricultural semi-natural environments, such as sand dunes, grouse moors and grassland which is not farmland. It also includes land used for transportation, recreation, residential and other urban uses. As part of a research project on urbanisation, an estimate of the extent of land in urban uses in England was made. The estimate for 1991 is 10.6 per cent. The estimate is derived by subtracting estimates of the area of open spaces in urban areas from the extent of urban areas and adding estimates of the area of land in urban uses outside urban areas, for example small settlements and isolated buildings, roads and railways.
Neither means of estimation are an accurate indication of the extent of land under urban use in the UK. The collection of data on urban land uses is relatively expensive, and Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has carried out research to develop a cost-effective method for undertaking a census of all land use, including urban land. As a response to the need for better land use data, the National Land Use Database (NLUD) has been developed by the DCLG in partnership with Ordnance Survey (OS), English Partnerships and the Improvement and Development Agency (IDEA). Statistics from this database will be available in future editions of the digest.
The chart shows over 70 per cent of the total UK land area is under agricultural uses. The total area of agricultural land increased by 1 per cent between 1998 and 2005. The area under crops fell by 8 per cent in the same period, and rough grazing land decreased by 4 per cent.
Grassland increased by 4 per cent, urban and other land decreased by 9 per cent and the amount of set-aside land grew by 80 per cent between 1998 and 2005.
Regional data
For county agricultural data contact the farming statistics branch of Defra. Email: farming.statistics@defra.gov.gsi.uk. The prime source will be the internet data sets of 'Agricultural Census data'.
Further Information:
- Data Tables:
- 1 Land by agricultural and other uses: 2005 XLS
- Chart 8 Land by agricultural and other uses: 1998 and 2005 XLS
- Sustainable Development Indicators:
- Contextual indicators: Protecting our natural resources and enhancing the environment Land use
- Internet Links:
- e-digest: Land use changes
- e-digest: Urbanisation in England
- e-digest: Agricultural land use
- e-digest: New homes built on previously developed land
- Study into the Environmental Impacts of Increasing the Supply of Housing in the UK, Defra
- Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) Planning statistics
- DCLG: Land use change statistics
- Ordnance survey
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Page last modified: 21 August 2006
Page published: 28 October 2004