One of the focuses of the new government is increasing the number of new homes built in the UK. Whilst this has been a focus for successive governments it is an area where targets have not been met due to barriers to development particularly around planning and construction costs. The new government has launched five golden rules for house building which condense to:
- Develop brownfield land first.
- Next look to unlock grey belt sites (a new classification of land – see below).
- Target at least 50% affordable within schemes.
- Plans must incorporate a boost to public services in the locality to support the development.
- Plans must incorporate investment in existing green spaces to enhance public access to open spaces.
Brownfield redevelopment has always been a focus on meeting government targets but the particular challenges of developing brownfield land have often meant greater time for development programs and increased costs. These challenges range from:
- Increased likelihood of contamination.
- Issues with the planning system.
- Asbestos removal.
- Relocating and upgrading existing utilities and dealing with third party rights.
- Dealing with historic title rights and restrictive covenants.
- Identifying and dealing with unregistered pockets of land i.e. potential ransom strips.
- Rights of light.
Greyfield is a term that has been used to describe areas in cities and towns which are not (like brownfield) contaminated but are underutilised, obsolete or outdated. The new government has coined the phrase “grey belt” from this to describe pockets of land in the green belt which might be reclassified for development because they do not meet the original objectives of protection of the greenbelt. The greenfield was introduced in 1938 and population growth since this date has been exponential. The example of grey belt land that the government have used to demonstrate their concept is a disused petrol station within the greenbelt area in Tottenham. The approach is to look at the quality of the land and its amenity to the public and to natural ecosystems in assessing whether it should be reallocated as development land.
Knight Frank has carried out research that suggests that unlocking 1% of greenbelt land for development (comprising 11,000 sites that have been previously developed) would enable the construction of 100,000-200,000 new family homes. The sites identified are mainly located in the south of the UK and 40% are within the London greenbelt area.
A key part of delivering this policy will be changes to the planning system and ensuring that changes to policy at a macro level are not blocked or delayed at a local level (which is something that developers regularly experience). A key to this will be defining properly what is meant by grey belt land. Conservationists have concerns that the greenbelt was introduced not just to preserve quality of land but also to prevent urban sprawl. There are also concerns that if the test is around “ugly” land within the greenbelt there would not be a proper assessment of whether the land is a thriving natural ecosystem despite its lack of aesthetic appeal. Commentators also have concerns that landowners could deliberately allow land to deteriorate so that it could be classified as grey field. However, as the Knight Frank research focuses on land that has been developed in the past there will be an ability to align the definition with the concept of grey field, which is redevelopment of obsolete pre-developed sites that happen to be within the greenbelt.
Whilst many of the challenges for brownfield land will still apply to grey belt land if there was a simplified planning process the fact that there is a lower chance of contamination, fewer third party rights and existing utilities to consider and less likelihood of rights of light being applicable would make grey belt redevelopment attractive to developers. Government objectives to include delivery of 50% affordable within schemes is something that may still block redevelopment of these sites due to the high existing construction pricing levels. However, it is a good sign that there is going to be an assessment of some of the challenges currently blocking delivery of new housing and this is a going to be an area that our developer clients will be watching with interest.
To find out how things have changed since 2019 you can read Jenny's previous piece here.
