In addition to thanking Secretary Vilsack for his support, I want to thank the RuralDevelopment mission area, and especially Deputy Administrator Jessica Zufolo, Assistant Administrator David Villano and Dr. Gary Bojes with the Rural Utilities Service.
Having looked at all the information, they calculated that "6.8% of the UK's land area is now classified as urban" (a definition that includes ruraldevelopment and roads, by the way).
Tony Burton of the Council for the Protection of Rural England calculates that England is losing an area of countryside about the size of Bristol every year to development.