Abstract
The aim of the project is to provide information to Defra that will allow Defra to improve their responses on land use issues in England. The project will provide a readily available resource for decision makers to assess the most sustainable options for land use. The project aims are: 1. Identify sources of land use typology data for England. 2. Create a database of metadata for the key features of land use typology datasets, including searchable key words or tags and links to other datasets or policy areas. 3. Assess the opportunities or threats posed by inclusion of each dataset in a land use framework. 4. Assess existing activities currently collecting data or metadata. Potential areas of collaboration or support will be identified and contact will be made with organisations carrying out comparable activities. 5. Identify gaps in data coverage, depth or detail, including technical barriers to synthesis of comparable land use datasets into one map. 6. Recommend future work that could aid in the development of a land use framework. Such suggested future work could include the creation of a synthesised land use typology into a single classification scheme. The resulting maps would provide an understanding of the distribution and patterns of land use at a meaningful level for policy making. During the project a desk-based assessment of existing sources of land use data will be undertaken, and the results of the assessment will be recorded in a metadata database. This project will focus on the geographic elements of land use data. Where the resolution of the data is deemed insufficient, or the detail of the data is recognised as not sufficiently useful to decision makers this will also be recorded. Additionally, perceived gaps in the domain of land use data will be noted. The first stages of the project are to discuss the potential form of a land use framework, to address the function of such a framework and the user requirements upon it. Information that defines the typology of land in terms of its development status/function/designation include: • Urban – residential housing/commercial/industrial/transport networks/infrastructure/ urban greenspaces; • Agricultural land – arable/horticultural/grassland; • Land with designated status – AONBs/National Parks/Nature Designations (SSSIs, Ramsar sites, Special Protection Areas (SPAs), and Special Areas of Conservation(SACs))/ common land/contaminated land; • Key landscape types – Forests/heathland/unimproved grassland/salt marshes; • Development in the countryside – power stations/renewable energy developments (such as wind farms)/mines and quarries/waste management facilities; • Major transport hubs – airports/motorways/key rail links; The outcomes of the project will be a updateable and searchable database of metadata describing existing key land use datasets. Subsequent high-level Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis will be performed. This SWOT analysis will indicate the appropriateness of Defra taking each dataset forward in a Land Use Framework. Recommendations will be made for additional work that would aid the development of such a framework, including identifying gaps in available data or insufficient quality or coverage of information available within existing datasets.
United Kingdom