LAND USE STUDIES IN BRITAIN: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO APPLICATIONS OF COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS*

Since the ending of World War II increasing attention has been paid in Britain to the need for the formulation of a coherent land use planning strategy. Public control over land use has strengthened and interest in the conceptual and practical problems involved has grown to a sufficient extent to have generated a significant body of literature. This article begins with a short account of the land use planning process, considers the state of land use statistics and outlines the results of work by a number of writers on projections of land requirements in various uses notably for agriculture, forestry and urban expansion. Against this background attention then focuses on the use of cost-benefit analysis as a means of resolving conflicts in land allocation, particularly those which centre on agricultural use as against urban expansion, and agriculture versus forestry development. A further section considers the application of cost-benefit methods in research on recreational uses of land. The paper is designed primarily as a critical survey of the present state of knowledge, though it also indicates areas of study in which the expertise of the agricultural economist might be particularly useful.