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Review of Land Use Decision Support Tools: An assessment of spatial prioritisation and optimisation tools for ecosystem services and benefits 2026

Abstract

This report provides a high-level overview of land use decision support tools available in the UK at the time of writing (2024), based on publicly available information (user guidance documents and published literature) supplemented by voluntary input from tool developers. The aim of the review was to develop an understanding of the technical approaches used by existing land use decision support tools that spatially prioritise or optimise interventions to achieve multiple ecosystem services (ES) and environmental benefits.

Accompanying the main report are the following resources:

  • Review of Land Use Decision Support Tools: Summary report: A short summary of the full report, outlining the tools reviewed, the methods used, and the key considerations.
  • Spreadsheet of tools: A spreadsheet collating the information gathered on all of the potentially relevant land use decision support tools.

These resources may not be fully accessible for all users. If you need copies in a different format, please contact Communications@jncc.gov.uk.

Resource type Publication

Topic category Environment

Reference date 2026·03·01

Citation
Barber, R., Conquest, A., Hawker, J., Neaves, J., Randle, B. & Roberts, E. 2026. Review of Land Use Decision Support Tools: An assessment of spatial prioritisation and optimisation tools for ecosystem services and benefits. JNCC Report 815. JNCC, Peterborough, ISSN 0963-8091.

Lineage
This report was commissioned by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and produced by Land Use Consultants (LUC) in 2024.

Responsible organisation
Communications, JNCC publisher

Limitations on public access No limitations

Use constraints Available under the Open Government Licence 3.0

Metadata date 2026·04·16

Metadata point of contact
Communications, JNCC

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