UKCEH (UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology) have created a dataset that will show a landowner where is best to create 5 habitat types. These are;

The country has been ranked into a local and national priority and the Land App uses the local priority data to show your areas of importance in a plan. An email will also be sent which outlines the national importance of your area as well.

Using the E-Planner will help you see where is best to create habitats that are of local and national importance. This can then help inform future land use when creating future use plans such as Countryside Stewardship or a Land Management plan.

To create your area of interest you will need an SBI to use the E-planner. Whilst creating a plan first is not necessary we recommend that you do this to focus your map on your area of interest (e.g. farm or estate).

In the top left of your screen click on New /Import

Select Import from Rural Payments

Input your 9-digit SBI and select the Land Covers dataset and click on Next.

Choose the Basic Payment Scheme template

Give your plan a name and click on Finish.

Next click on New/Buy data

Select E-planner

Define your area by either selecting a plan or creating a frame. Please note that the SBI number will define the area but you can use the frame if you only want to see a section within the SBI.

If you have used a frame to define a certain area within the SBI you can choose to show either "cut" (a hard edge to the data) or "whole features" (retains the shape of the original feature) as your intersect setting.

Give your plan a name and insert your SBI number.

Click on Buy now.

Go back to your map and your new E-Planner plans will have been created for you (note: you may need to refresh your screen to see them). There will be a new plan for each of the categories (5). Please note plans will not be created if you are in a low-priority area both locally & nationally.

You can now interact with the data by selecting features. Once a feature is selected the right-hand panel will appear. Here you can see the recommended intervention codes for the priority areas based on UK Habitat codes. There can be one or two codes depending on the priority type and the original land use such as grassland or arable.

As well as the plans being created you will receive an email outlining the recommendations shown in your plans.

You can now use your E-planner data to inform future planning by creating a Land Management or Countryside Stewardship plan.

These tables outline a translation of the E-planner codes to Countryside Stewardship and UK Habitat coding used for Land Management Plans.

E-Planner to Countryside Stewardship

E-Planner to UK Habitat (Land Management Plan template)

Informing Countryside Stewardship plans

To create a Countryside Stewardship we recommend duplicating the original plan you created on the Basic Payment Scheme template. If you did not create this originally you can create a new plan with your SBI on a Countryside Stewardship template.

You can now overlay your E-planner data to guide where you would like to add stewardship options.

Now you can assign the feature to the habitat type that relates to your E-planner data.

Select or multi select features and the Feature details menu will appear click on Change to assign a use.

For more information on creating Countryside Stewardship plans please see this guidance.

Informing Land Management plans

To create a Land Management plan we recommend duplicating only those features, from the original plan you created on the Basic Payment Scheme template, on which you want to consider future use options. If you did not create this originally you can create a new plan with your SBI on a Land Management plan template.

You can select or multi select features (holding down the shift key) and copy these to a new Land Management Plan. Once selected right click and Copy to plan.

Select Create a new plan, use the Land Management Plan, give it a name and click on Create new plan for features.

The selected feature/features will now be copied to your LMP plan.

Now you can assign the feature to the habitat type that relates to your E-planner data.

Select or multi select features and the Feature details menu will appear click on Change to assign a use.