The Government consultation ‘Strengthening planning policy for brownfield development’ seen to implement a ‘presumption in favour of brownfield’ to ensure more brownfield land is used for housing, rather than expanding onto the greenbelt or outside of communities.
Richard Beresford, chief executive of the National Federation of Builders (NFB), said: “There isn’t enough brownfield land to get close to solving the housing crisis and whilst this policy is welcomed as a concept, if it exists to avoid the political backlash from building on the greenbelt, we should expect the housing crisis to endure.”
The consultation seeks to:
- Implement brownfield presumptions through the penalty policies in the housing delivery test.
- Ensure cities and urban areas take the majority housing supply uplifts.
- Place increased accountability on the London Mayor for under-delivery.
- Give greater weight to brownfield land in local planning policy.
Rico Wojtulewicz, Head of Policy, and Market Insight, said: “Brownfield is land allocated for non-residential development, if you get rid of it for housing, where do you put the extra GP surgeries, jobs, shops, services etc.to support even higher local populations? Well, you either build them on the greenbelt, outside of communities or not at all.
If the Government wants to make ‘brownfield first’ a decent solution, it needs to demolish sites and rebuild them more densely, eg:10+ storeys. This will mean developments can provide housing and non-housing needs. If it does not do this, we still will not build enough houses, as there is not enough brownfield as it is, and ‘brownfield first’ will produce worse places to live.”