Soil Action Plan
Content
Structure
The First Soil Action Plan for England draws together all ongoing work on soils and identifies 52 actions for Government and others to take forward to improve the protection and management of soils within a range of land uses.
The Action Plan is complemented by an Environment Agency report on the State of Soils in England and Wales. Together these documents should provide a positive steer to work on a European Thematic Soil Strategy which is being progressed by the Commission (see EU Strategy for Soil Protection pages).
The Action Plan addresses issues that cut across a wide range of Defra's and other Departments' business. Actions are listed under eight headings:
- Protecting Soils in the Planning System
- Minimising Contamination of Soils
- Predicting and Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change on Soils
- Soils for Agriculture and Forestry
- Interactions between Soils, Air and Water
- Soils and Biodiversity
- Soils, the Landscape and Cultural Heritage
- Soils in Minerals Extraction, Construction and the Built Environment.
Vision and aims
The actions proposed in the First Soil Action Plan for England work towards a common vision that recognises the several vital functions that soils perform for society:
"Our vision is to ensure that England's soils will be protected and managed to optimise the varied functions that soils perform for society (e.g. supporting agriculture and forestry, protecting cultural heritage, supporting biodiversity, as a platform for construction), in keeping with the principles of sustainable development and on the basis of sound evidence."
In order to achieve this vision, our aims are to ensure:
- Soil managers will look after their soils with a view both to their own and society's short-term needs and to the interests of future generations
- The regulatory, legislative and political framework will provide appropriate protection of soil as an irreplaceable natural resource and empower and encourage people with soil to manage it properly
- A better understanding of, and access to, information on the state of our soils and the physical, chemical and biological processes which operate on and within them.
Core actions
All actions included in the plan make a step towards more sustainable use and protection of soil. However, nine actions have been identified as key to the success of this First Soil Action Plan, because they are likely to lead to significant changes on the ground or because they are making first steps to tackle particularly challenging issues:
- Defra will work with stakeholders to develop a programme of education and awareness of soil issues among the general public, those working with soils and the professionals that guide, advise or instruct soil managers. We will aim to develop partnerships and plans by 2005 and review progress in implementing these plans in 2006.
- Defra will implement the CAP cross compliance conditions in a way that enhances management of soils in the farming industry.
- Defra will encourage better management of agricultural soils that goes beyond the requirements of the Single Payment, through the provision of incentives under the Agri-Environment Scheme.
- Defra will build on the output of its Learning Skills and Knowledge review and the pilots of the Whole Farm Appraisals, to develop within the next twelve months a strategy for providing farmers and other land managers with practical information and advice building good soil management into overall farm planning.
- Defra will work during the SR2004 process to embed soil protection into its forward strategy and, if appropriate, targets on natural resource protection.
- Defra will work with stakeholders to identify the indicators which should be built into a national soil monitoring scheme, in order to develop a scheme which meets both national and European requirements.
- Defra will work with other Government Departments and Agencies (including in the Devolved Administrations), the National Soil Resources Institute at Cranfield University (as co-owners of key data sets) and other soil data users, to develop and provide better access to information on soils.
- Defra will work with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), representatives of planning authorities and other partners to develop a consensus on the procedures needed to give soils appropriate protection during the planning process. The first milestone will be to examine criteria for designating soils that should be protected from building during the current review of Best and Most Versatile (BMV) land.
- English Nature will prepare and publish, by 2006, a position statement on the role of soil management and protection within statutory nature conservation sites.
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Page last modified: 6 April 2006