Land use within the Greater West of England

16 Mar 2026

This data insight describes how land is used across the Greater West of England, measured in hectares (ha).

The Greater West of England is a bespoke geography comprising Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset, Gloucestershire, Swindon and Wiltshire.

The data are drawn from Land Use in England 2022, published by the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC), based on a snapshot of land use in April 2022 derived from Ordnance Survey MasterMap Topography data. Land uses are classified across 28 categories and grouped into broader land use types, with water excluded in percentage-based charts.

Together, these indicators provide a detailed geographical picture of how land is used across the Greater West of England.

305,942ha

In the Greater West of England, Wiltshire has most non-developed land.

11.75%

Share of Greater West of England land classified as forestry and woodland

45.53%

Bristol has the highest developed land share, over 7 times that of Wiltshire (5.99%)

71.47%

Wiltshire has the highest agricultural land share in the Greater West of England

Developed, non-developed and vacant land (hectares) in the Greater West of England, 2022

This visualisation shows the distribution of developed, non-developed and vacant land across the Greater West of England, highlighting variation in overall land mass and land-use intensity.

Wiltshire has the largest total land area with 305,942ha of non-developed land and 19,384ha of developed land. This is followed by Gloucestershire with 245,288ha of non-developed land and 19,608ha of developed land. In contrast, Bristol is the most urbanised area proportionally, with 4,950ha developed compared to 5,970ha non-developed. This indicated developed land accounts for almost half of Bristol’s total land area. Bath and North East Somerset, and North East Somerset show similar patterns, each with over 31,000ha of non-developed land but relatively modest developed footprints (3,199ha and 4,795ha respectively).

Vacant land is low in all areas, ranging from 42ha in Bath and North East Somerset to 358ha in Gloucestershire.

Land use by type, excluding water (%) in the Greater West of England, geographical comparisons, 2022

This visualisation shows the percentage distribution of land use types (excluding water) across the Greater West of England in 2022, compared with England and England excluding London for context.

Agriculture dominates in most areas, particularly in Wiltshire (71.47%) and Gloucestershire (70.51%), both above the England average (63.86%).

In contrast, Bristol is highly urbanised with 45.53% of its land classified as developed use compared with 8.42% across the Greater West of England and England (8.82%).

Similarly, Bristol’s share of residential gardens (23.88%) and outdoor recreation (12.94%) are higher than in other local authorities in the region and exceed England averages. Forestry and woodland areas are most prominent in Gloucestershire (14.58%), above both the Greater West of England (11.75%) and England (10.81%) averages.

Land use by type, excluding water (%), Greater West of England parliamentary constituencies, 2022

This visualisation shows the percentage breakdown of land use types (excluding water) across Greater West of England constituencies in 2022, highlighting contrasts between urban and rural areas.

More urban constituencies such as Bristol South (43.65%), Gloucester (42.53%) and Bristol North West (41.85%) have the highest developed land shares, compared with rural constituencies like South West Wiltshire (5.57%) and Salisbury (6.00%).

Agriculture dominates more rural areas, peaking in Thornbury and Yate (76.34%), Tewkesbury (71.80%) and Salisbury (71.06%), while more urban Bristol constituencies have agricultural shares below 10%.

Residential gardens form a significant component of land in more urban areas, reaching 27.81% in Bristol South and 27.61% in Bristol East, but remain below 10% in most rural constituencies.

Overall, the pattern reflects clear urban-rural divides, with developed and garden land concentrated in city constituencies while agricultural and woodland dominates more rural areas.

Greater West of England land use; natural land, forestry, rough grassland, excluding water (%), 2022

This visualisation shows the breakdown of land use (excluding water) across the greater West of England in 2022, focusing on natural land, forestry and woodland, and rough grassland.

Most land categorisation falls into the “Other” category (84.61%), indicating that agriculture, developed land and other uses dominate the landscape. Forestry and woodland accounts for 11.75% of land, making it the largest of the natural land-related categories shown. Rough grassland represents a smaller share at 3.52%, while natural land makes up 0.12%, indicating limited areas classified as strictly natural land.