Soils in the built environment
Building an evidence base
Protection of soils in the built environment is a new work area for Defra. Since the implementation of the First Soil Action Plan for England, the Soils Team has been seeking to draw together a solid evidence base on which to build our policy. The existing evidence was sparse so the commissioning of a number of research projects was required to establish the role that soils play and the threats that they face within the built environment. The range of projects below have enabled us to identify our priorities for action and work programmes have been put in place. Our need for evidence is therefore now evolving, with the provision of evidence to support the delivery of our actions now the priority.
The first piece of evidence that was collected was a review of existing literature on the role of soils in the built environment. This review was completed in April 2005:
- Review of the role of soils
in the built environment
(467 KB) - May 2005
From this starting point, Defra has gone on to fund research on the various pressures facing soils in the built environment and methods for mitigation:
Planning and development
- Project SP0550 - Agricultural Land Classification field data reuse
- Study into how to protect Hampshire's soils by function and soil type (14 KB) - May 2005 updated
- Project SP0541 – The application of remote sensing to identify and measure changes in the area of soil prevented from carrying out functions by sealing
Construction
- Review of the coverage and usefulness of British Standards relating to soil (National Soil Resources Institute) (230 KB) - July 2005
- Project SP08005 – The impact of subsoil compaction on soil functionality and landscape
- Project SP0701 – The fate of surplus soil on development sites
Pollution
- Project SP0547 - Sources and impacts of past, current and future contamination of soil
Economic valuation
- Project SP08004 – Economic valuation of soil functions: Phase 1 - method development
Climate change
- Project SP0538 - The impacts of climate change on soil functions
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Page last modified: 14 September 2006
Page published: 1 September
2005