A House of Lords inquiry has found that the recent government ‘grey belt’ idea / initiative to increase new housing in areas of ‘not so special’ Green Belt, is a largely redundant concept.
By way of explanation, Ministers had said that, if a council’s housing targets could not be met, some protected land (Green Belt) would be re-labelled ‘grey belt’ and thereby freed up for development.
However, after looking into the proposals in detail, the committee said it suspected the grey belt concept had been “eclipsed by more significant changes” made by the government. The government has responded by saying that its changes to the green belt were “just one of the ambitious housing reforms we have set out to solve the housing crisis and boost economic growth” and went on to explain that the measures were “informed through widespread consultation and will unlock more land for the homes and infrastructure communities desperately need, delivering sustainable, affordable and well-designed developments on low quality grey belt”.
Director Giles Moir commented; I note the Committee’s scepticism, but I welcome the government initiative, and its positive response to the committee findings, reiterating its determination to find ways to increase housebuilding. The ‘grey belt’ initiative could bring forward many more sites on the urban fringe, previously excluded for consideration which would benefit from being redeveloped for family housing – these could include sites in Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire and the BCP Council areas. We will just have to wait to see how this national initiative and policy is interpreted at a local level. We at Chapman Lily will be monitoring it very closely in order to advise clients how they might be best placed to put such schemes forward.