Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her department expects to be able to publish the fully updated data and mapping for Agricultural Land Classifications in England.

A new predictive Agricultural Land Classification (ALC) map for England has been created to replace the existing 1960s provisional ALC map. The 1960s provisional ALC map does not show ALC Grade 3 subdivision into subgrade 3a and 3b and reflects a superseded ALC methodology.

The Predictive ALC map was announced on the 18 March 2026 in the publication of the Land Use Framework (LUF).

This Predictive ALC map reflects the currently available soil and ALC data, prepared in line with the ALC methodology published in the 2025 Defra and Welsh Government Joint Report (JP069) Agricultural Land Classification of England and Wales: Guidelines for grading the quality of agricultural land - JP069.

The Predictive ALC map, technical annex and mapping layer will be published this Spring. The final publication sits with Defra.