Official Statistics

Land use statistics: England 2021 - statistical release

Published 24 August 2023

Applies to England

1. Main points

As at April 2021:

• 8.6% of land in England is of developed use, with 91.2% of non-developed use and the remaining 0.2% being vacant.
• The top three land use groups were ‘Agriculture’ (63.3%), ‘Forestry, open land and water’ (20.1%), and ‘Residential gardens’ (4.9%).
• 6.9% of land within the Green Belt is of developed use.
• 6.1% of land within Flood Zone 3 is of developed use (not accounting for flood defences).
• 4.9% of land within areas at high to medium risk of flooding from rivers and the sea is of developed use (after accounting for flood defences).

2. Introduction

This statistical release presents summary statistics showing how different land uses are distributed across England. Land uses are classified across 28 land use categories which are aggregated into 13 land use groups and are split between developed and non-developed land use types. Statistics on the 13 land use groups are presented within this statistical release with statistics for the 28 land use categories being available within the Live Tables (see Table A1 below or the technical notes for further information). Statistics on land uses within the Green Belt and areas at higher risk of flooding are also presented. Data is provided to the Department by Ordnance Survey Ltd and is derived from Ordnance Survey’s AddressBase Premium, OS MasterMap Sites Layer, OS MasterMap Topography Layer, and OS Open Greenspace products.

The Department also publishes Land Use Change Statistics which are derived in part from the Land Use dataset and consists of two releases, new residential addresses and changes in hectarage.

‘Land Use Change – new residential addresses’ provides information on new residential addresses and the previous land use those addresses were created on. Information is also provided on the proportion of new residential addresses located within certain areas of interest such as the Green Belt, Flood Zones and other similar ‘designations’. ‘Addresses created’ for these purposes include new builds and conversions.

‘Land Use Change – hectarage’ provides information on the amount of land changing use from previous use to its new use. These changes are recorded to and from a set of 28 land use categories (see Table A1 below or in the technical notes).

3. Land use context

England has a land area of just over 13,046,000 hectares^{[footnote 1]} of which 8.6% is of developed use, with 10.5% being ‘built-up’.^{[footnote 2]} When including land designated as Green Belt, just over 37.4% of the area of England (4.9 million hectares) is protected against development by one or more natural designation.^{[footnote 3]} The natural designations used within the calculation only include National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) and Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). Please see the Green Belt statistics for more information.

In addition, there are other designations of interest such as land at risk from flooding. Approximately 10.4% of England’s land area is located within Flood Zone 3 (not accounting for flood defences) with 8.4% at risk of flooding from rivers and sea (after accounting for flood defences).

Statistical information on these designations is available within the Green Belt statistics publication, specifically the ‘Land designations by LA’ table in the Accompanying tables and within the Green Belt and other designations interactive dashboard.

The Land Use statistics provide a clear distinction between land that is of ‘developed use’ and land that is of ‘non-developed use’ by separating land into one of 28 defined land use or land cover categories. Land that is of ‘developed use’ and land that is of ‘non-developed use’ can be broadly associated with the terms ‘brownfield’ and ‘greenfield’ which, although more commonly used, do not have a consistent and specific definition, which limits their usefulness for statistics or analysis. ‘Built-up areas’ are defined as land which is ‘irreversibly urban in character’, meaning that they are characteristic of a town or city. ‘Built-up areas’ are likely to therefore contain a higher proportion of land that is of ‘developed use’ but they will also contain land that is of ‘non-developed use’ such as areas of grassland or residential gardens.

4. Land use in England

4.1 Land use breakdown

91.2% of land in England is of a non-developed use, 8.6% is categorised within developed uses and 0.2% is categorised as vacant (see Table A1 for more information).

Map 1: Proportion of land that is of developed use, England 2021

Each hexagon has a height of 5 kilometres

There are 13 land use groups used in the Land Use statistics. In 2021, the top three land use groups were:

• ‘Agriculture’ (63.3%);
• ‘Forestry, open land and water’ (20.1%); and
• ‘Residential gardens’ (4.9%).

More details are shown in Figure 1. The groups used are as listed in Table A1 in the Definitions section of this release.

Figure 1: Land use by land use group, England 2021

5. Regional and local authority breakdowns

In April 2021, London had by far the highest proportion of land that is of developed use with 40.4%. The remaining regions ranged from 6.9% (South West) to 9.8% (South East).

Local authorities had much larger differences with the City of London having the highest proportion of land of developed use with 93.1% and Craven had the lowest proportion with 2.5%. Out of the top 20 local authorities with the highest proportion of land of developed use, 14 were within London with the top 12 local authorities all being within London. The 6 local authorities that were in the top 20 and not within London were Kingston upon Hull, Liverpool, Portsmouth, Manchester, Norwich, Southampton.

Full breakdowns by land use type, group and category are available at national, regional and local authority level within Live Tables P400 to P403 (for total area, land designated as Green Belt, National Flood Zone 3 and land at high to medium risk of flooding from rivers and seas respectively). The statistics are also available at parliamentary constituency level (Live Table P404) and at lower layer super output area (LSOA) level (Live Table P405).

Figure 2: Regional breakdown of land use, 2021

6. Land use within the Green Belt

The National Planning Policy Framework states the Government attaches great importance to Green Belts. The fundamental aim of Green Belt policy is to prevent urban sprawl by keeping land permanently open; the essential characteristics of Green Belts are their openness and their permanence. For further information, please see our Green Belt statistics publication.

• 6.9% of land within the Green Belt is of developed use.

• Within the Green Belt, ‘Agriculture’ was the land use group with highest proportion with 64.7%.

See Live Table P401 for more information.

7. Land use within areas at risk of flooding

7.1 Flood Zone 3

Flood Zone 3 is the Environment Agency’s best estimate of the areas of land at risk of flooding, when the presence of flood defences are ignored and covers land with a 1 in 100 (1%) or greater chance of flooding each year from Rivers; or with a 1 in 200 (0.5%) or greater chance of flooding each year from the Sea.

• 6.1% of land within Flood Zone 3 is of developed use (not accounting for flood defences).

• Within National Flood Zone 3, ‘Agriculture’ was the land use group with highest proportion with 71%.

See Live Table P402 for more information.

7.2 Risk of Flooding from Rivers and Sea (RoFRS)

Risk of Flooding from Rivers and Sea (RoFRS) is an assessment of flood risk for England produced using local data and expertise. It shows the chance of flooding from rivers and the sea presented in categories taking account of flood defences and the condition they are in. High risk: each year, there is a chance of flooding of greater than 1 in 30 (3.3%). Medium risk: each year, there is a chance of flooding of between 1 in 30 (3.3%) and 1 in 100 (1%).

• 4.9% of land within areas at high to medium risk of flooding from rivers and the sea is of developed use (after accounting for flood defences).

• Within areas at high to medium risk of flooding from rivers and sea, ‘Agriculture’ was the land use group with highest proportion with 69.6%.

See Live Table P403 for more information.

8. Accompanying tables and open data

8.1 Tables

Accompanying tables are available to download alongside this release and are broken down by land use category and area available at LSOA, local authority, and parliamentary constituency level. See the Live tables on land use](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-land-use).

8.2 Definitions of terms used in this release

National Flood Zone 3

Land assessed as having a 1 in 100 or greater annual probability of river flooding (>1%), or a 1 in 200 or greater annual probability of flooding from the sea (>0.5%) in any year.

Flood Zone 3 ignores the presence of flood defences.

Risk of Flooding from Rivers and Sea (RoFRS)

An assessment of flood risk for England produced using local data and expertise. It shows the chance of flooding from rivers and the sea presented in categories taking account of flood defences and the condition they are in, and describes the suitable uses of the data.

• High risk: each year, there is a chance of flooding of greater than 1 in 30 (3.3%).
• Medium risk: each year, there is a chance of flooding of between 1 in 30 (3.3%) and 1 in 100 (1%).

RoFRS takes account of flood defences and the condition they are in.

Risk of Flooding from Surface Water (RoFSW)

Land assessed for flooding scenarios as a result of rainfall with a 1 in 100 (1%) chance of occurring in any given year.

Natural designations

For the purposes of this statistical release, natural designations has been limited to include National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) and Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).

Table A1: Land use and land use change classification table

Developed land

Group	Category	Code
Community services	Community buildings	C
Community services	Leisure (indoor)	L
Defence buildings	Defence buildings	D
Industry and commerce	Industry	I
Industry and commerce	Offices	J
Industry and commerce	Retail	K
Industry and commerce	Storage and warehousing	S
Minerals and landfill	Minerals and mining	M
Minerals and landfill	Landfill and waste disposal	Y
Other developed use	Unidentified building	~B
Other developed use	Unidentified general manmade surface	~M
Other developed use	Unidentified structure	~S
Other developed use	Unknown surface type with no classification	~U
Residential	Communal accommodation	Q
Residential	Residential	R
Transport and utilities	Highways and roads	H
Transport and utilities	Transport (other)	T
Transport and utilities	Utilities	U

Non-developed land

Group	Category	Code
Agriculture	Agricultural land	A
Agriculture	Agricultural buildings	B
Forestry, open land and water	Forestry and woodland	F
Forestry, open land and water	Rough grassland	G
Forestry, open land and water	Natural land	N
Forestry, open land and water	Water	W
Outdoor recreation	Outdoor recreation	O
Residential gardens	Residential gardens	RG
Undeveloped land	Undeveloped land	X

Vacant land

Group	Category	Code
Vacant land	Vacant land	V

Definitions for the 28 individual land use categories are provided in the Technical Notes.

9. Technical notes

Please see the accompanying Technical Notes document for further details of definitions, related statistics and other technical details.

Information on the UK Statistical System is available via the UK Statistics Authority website.

Information about statistics at Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is available via the Department’s website

10. Enquiries

Date of next release: To be confirmed.

Media enquiries: 0303 444 1209 newsdesk@levellingup.gov.uk

Public enquiries and responsible statistician: Alex Reynolds

Email: planning.statistics@levellingup.gov.uk

1. Open Geography Portal: standard-area-measurements-latest-for-administrative-areas-in-the-united-kingdom-v2. ↩

2. Built-up Areas (2022). ↩

3. Local Authority Green Belt statistics 2021 to 2022. ↩