Agricultural Land Classification: Detailed Post-1988 Survey Maps and Reports

Natural England provides the Agricultural Land Classification (ALC) detailed survey data for the Kessingland, West Of London Road site. The dataset includes scanned original paper maps and survey reports from site surveys conducted between 1989 and 1999 by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. It features soil grade mapping with Grade 3 subdivisions and may contain unedited sample point soils data and soil pit descriptions.

Use Cases

• Classify agricultural land capability based on the detailed soil grading methodology described in the survey reports.
• Analyze spatial patterns of soil subgrades (3a and 3b) based on the mapped land classification data.
• Integrate historical soil pit descriptions and point data for soil property modeling where available.
• Assess land use suitability for planning and environmental impact studies based on the geospatial survey maps.

Strengths

• Uses the current official grading methodology as described in the 'Agricultural Land Classification of England and Wales' guidelines.
• Includes subdivision of Grade 3 into subgrades 3a and 3b, providing finer detail for analysis.
• Original survey data covers a defined time period from 1989 to 1999.

Limitations

• Row count, column definitions, and file formats are unknown; data structure must be inspected after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.
• Mapping scales vary from 1:5,000 to 1:50,000, which may affect consistency and detail for cross-site comparison.

Provenance

Source

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food; provided by Natural England.

Collection Method

Detailed site surveys with original paper maps and reports, later scanned.

Time Range

1989 to 1999

Freshness

Survey data is from 1989-1999; last update date for the digital record is unknown.

Geography

Kessingland, West Of London Road (Waveney District Site 47), England