Whether it is understanding current land uses, statutory designations or appraising new opportunities, data layers are a critical tool for understanding the many complex (and sometimes conflicting) land uses. Keeping our data layers up to date is essential for our users, and we’ve been releasing a whole host of new resources. Here, we highlight our 10 top picks from the new additions and why we think they’re important…
Access
OS Open Greenspace Access Points: This dataset maps access points to public greenspaces across the UK, supporting the creation of healthier communities and aiding emergency services in accessing these areas.
Source: Ordnance Survey
OS Open Greenspace Sites: A comprehensive dataset of greenspaces, instrumental in urban and rural planning, promoting greener living spaces and informing public health strategies.
Source: Ordnance Survey
Habitat
Wood Pasture and Parkland BAP Priority Habitat (England): This dataset provides a detailed inventory of wood-pasture and parkland areas in England, crucial for conservation planning and management based on historical and aerial data.
Source: Natural England
England Woodland Creation Low Sensitivity Map v4.0 (EWCO): These maps assist landowners in identifying areas with fewer environmental constraints for new woodland creation, aiding in sustainable forestry practices. This layer is also used to indicate areas now eligible for Woodland Fast Track Scheme under the England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO).
Source: Forestry Commission
England Woodland Creation Full Sensitivity Map v4.0 (EWCO): Provides detailed sensitivity mapping for woodland creation, guiding stakeholders through environmental and regulatory considerations.
Source: Forestry Commission
Designations
National Character Areas (England): National Character Areas define regions with unique landscape characteristics, guiding ecological and landscape management strategies across England.
Source: Natural England
Less Favoured Areas (LFA) and Moorland Lines: Combines Less Favoured Areas and Moorland Lines data, offering insights into land suitability for farming under challenging natural conditions, crucial for agricultural policy and support.
Source: Rural Payments Agency
RPA Registered Common Land (RCL): The RCL dataset outlines areas of Registered Common Land crucial for the administration of land rights and subsidies, aligned with updated mapping for accuracy in subsidy distribution.
Source: Rural Payments Agency
Water
Source Protection Zones: SPZs are essential for safeguarding drinking water quality by regulating activities near groundwater abstraction sites. They use environmental modelling to define zones by groundwater travel time, enhancing water safety.
Source: Environment Agency
Flood Map for Planning Flood Zones 2 and 3 (Wales): The Flood Map for Planning includes climate projections to assist in assessing future flood risks, serving as a critical tool for sustainable development and planning in Wales.
Source: Natural Resources Wales
These are just a few of the datasets we host in our data layer library, most of which are accessible for free across the platform. To address both social and environmental issues, it is critical that we think about the landscape scale, the interconnectivity of land uses, and the trade-offs and considerations that constantly underpin decision-making. Empowering you as decision-makers is what we strive for, providing the most relevant information we can and the tools to plan and make changes happen.
Land App hosts all these data layers in a format that can be “copied to your own plans”, which means you can readily use authoritative shapes in your own plans
Ready to try our data layers out for yourself? Sign up for a free account.
Want to learn more about our functions for planning land use? We offer a range of functionality, helping you appraise and plan your land from the field to the landscape scale. Visit our functions page to learn more.
