The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has announced that it is shaking up planning rules to ensure that more homes are built on brownfield land, whilst continuing to protect the green belt.
This comes as part of the government’s long-term plans to ‘turbocharge’ housing, with every local council in England being told that brownfield developments should be prioritised and that they should operate in a less bureaucratic and more flexible way. With this boost to housing, the government has raised the bar for the refusal of building homes on brownfield land for the city councils that are failing to meet their housebuilding targets. This will see England’s 20 largest cities and towns being forced to follow ‘brownfield presumption’ measures if housebuilding drops below certain levels, making it easier to develop on brownfield sites.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak commented:
“We pledged to build the right homes in the right places – protecting our precious countryside and building more in urban areas where demand is highest. Today’s package is us delivering on that.”
“We are sticking to our plan and are on track to meet our commitment to deliver one million homes over the course of this Parliament, and the changes announced today will deliver the right mix of homes across England.”
Legislation has been put before parliament today that will ensure that the red tape surrounding housebuilding on derelict sites is reduced, allowing new homes to be constructed whilst also continuing to protect the green belt. This would see disused shops, offices and other such buildings being repurposed even quicker, to deliver thousands of new homes by the government’s target date of 2030.
As part of the London Plan Review, analysis has found that the capital could benefit from an additional 11,500 homes every year if it were to follow a model of brownfield presumption, with this bringing considerable progress if it were to be rolled out across the entire country.
Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, also said:
“Today marks another important step forward in our Long-Term Plan for Housing, taking a brownfield first approach to deliver thousands of new homes where people want to live and work, without concreting over the countryside.”
“Our new brownfield presumption will tackle under delivery in our key towns and cities – where new homes are most needed to support jobs and drive growth.”
This announcement follows Public Sector Executive’s story from yesterday that outlines how the government is committing billions of pounds to the development of new affordable homes across the country.
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