Relu Land use policy initiative

Land and how we use it has risen up the political agenda, driven there by public concerns over climate change, flood risk, food security and sustainable energy supplies. Politicians have called for a strategic approach to land use. The Rural Economy and Land Use Programme responded by appointing two land use policy analysts to draw out relevant findings from across its range of research projects, backed by an expert advisory group during 2008. Alan Woods worked across the UK, Vicki Swales concentrated on the Scottish dimension and both liaised closely with Relu research projects to identify cross cutting and strategic ideas to be fed back into the policy making process via the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Scottish Government.
This work was funded by the UK research councils, Defra, the Scottish Government and the Commission for Rural Communities.

Read the two reports on line, alongside some of the contributions to the debate that Relu received from organisations such as the RSPB, Marks and Spencer, Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Woodland Trust.  We welcome further comments to relu@ncl.ac.uk.

• Securing Integrated Land Management for the UK
• Future Challenges for Rural Land Use Policy in Scotland
• Some consultation responses
• Relu has contributed a paper to the government’s Foresight project on land use futures, and the land use challenges that the UK will face over the next 50 years