Rachel Fisher is the Chief Executive of the Royal Town Planning Institute.

Much has already been written about the historic heatwave in England last week, but in addition to it being London Climate Action week, it was also an important week for the countryside of the planning world. CPRE held it’s 100th anniversary event on Land Use. At the event Minister for the Environment Mary Creagh announced the Government Estate Nature Plan, which will apply the principles of the Land Use Framework to manage its own estate. This sits alongside the wider set of management plans published by the National Estate for Nature, a coalition of 26 major landowners, including the National Trust, the Crown Estate, the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, and the Church Commissioners. Between them these landowners, and the government are responsible for 10% of England’s land.  
 
At this point, I should definitely declare and interest, in that I was responsible for leading the team at Defra that did the work on the Land Use Framework up until January 2025. In my current role, I am hearing more and more that planning is necessary, but not sufficient, to ensure that land, and the societies we build on it, are delivering for people, and the planet in the long term.  

Land use is responsible, it seems, for handling the society's many ambitions and addressing its crises. Changing how we think about and use our land is critical if we are to tackle the climate and nature crises and the housing emergency while building sustainable economic growth and resolving regional inequality.  

But, in England at least, the decisions on how we address these challenges are often made through separate plans and processes, leading to the often-mentioned delay in the system. Critically, this matters for credibility with local communities. Without a visualisation of how land is currently used, and how it could be used in future, it’s difficult to have a transparent and meaningful debate. 

At our General Assembly on Wednesday Colin Haylock took to our ‘Speakers Corner’ to make a rallying cry for reviving a Map for England. A National Spatial Framework that brings these many challenges under one umbrella. Not to replace current sectoral plans, or indeed the Land Use Framework, but to drive forward with a clear, national plan for how we use our land. 

To be effective, the Framework needs form part of the statutory planning system and ideally be established in legislation. It should be a material consideration in planning decisions and draw on evidence from existing national strategies. 

Its role would be to address major tensions at a national level, so difficult choices are not repeatedly revisited through spatial development strategies, local plans and individual planning applications. This would create greater clarity and confidence for local authorities, communities, infrastructure providers and investors. 

With a single, forward-thinking vision for our land, the Government could speed up those land use conflicts while directing investment to where it is most needed and supporting the delivery of housing, clean energy, economic growth and nature recovery. 

We don’t have to look too far afield for examples of how this could work.  We’re already seeing National Spatial Frameworks demonstrating their value close by. Scotland uses national spatial principles and identifies developments of national importance. The Netherlands integrates land and marine planning, while the Republic of Ireland links its spatial strategy to a national investment plan.  England can learn from these examples and adapt them to its own planning system. 

In short, a National Spatial Framework would address three issues we hear time and again from those working with the planning system: