The House of Lords Land Use Committee has held its first public evidence session with officials from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

This is the first session of the Committee’s new inquiry examining the Government’s policy priorities for Land Planning and Use in England. In particular it will look at how the Government will balance environmental land management, net zero ambitions, biodiversity net gain, and its levelling up agenda.

The following officials appeared in person to provide oral evidence to the Committee on 28 February 2022:

Rachel Fisher - Deputy Director for Land Policy at Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Joanna Averley - Chief Planner at Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Jonathan Baker - Deputy Director, Food, Farming and Countryside Programme at Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Questions the wide-ranging inquiry will seek to address include:

• What are the Government priorities for land use in England?
• How are departments cooperating on land use policy?
• What are the challenges and opportunities for delivering measures on land use to tackle climate change?
• What is being done to incentivise the positive environmental practices in agriculture and farming?
• How decisions about land use and planning interact with the Government’s levelling up agenda?
• How energy and infrastructure are being integrated into the land use decision making process?

The next oral evidence session, which is still be confirmed, is scheduled to take place on Monday 7^th March 2022.

Click here to watch the first evidence session from 28 February 2022