Labour Party Manifesto - introducing 'Grey Belt' land

To encourage the delivery of more housing, the new Labour Government has trailed the idea in their party manifesto of reclassifying some green belt land as grey belt land.

The existing National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) states: 'The fundamental aim of Green Belt policy is to prevent urban sprawl by keeping land permanently open; the essential characteristics of Green Belts are their openness and their permanence.'

Interestingly, grey belt land could have (theoretically) been built upon in many circumstances anyway - albeit individual local planning authorities may have politically resisted this. Paragraph 154 of the NPPF provides for 'the partial or complete redevelopment of previously developed land, whether redundant or in continuing use, which would not have a greater impact on the openness of the Green Belt than the existing development; or not cause substantial harm to the openness of the Green Belt, where the development would re-use previously developed land and contribute to meeting an identified affordable housing need within the area of the local planning authority.'

Labour have frequently used an example of a disused petrol station. It is hard to see why such land could not be developed under the existing rules, unless the proposal was for something much taller. The redesignation of land as grey belt land suggests the restrictions regarding the openness of the Green Belt in the NPPF may not apply.

The difficulty with grey belt land is that it may not be in the best locations for development; for example, it may be far away from schools or suffer from poor transport infrastructure. Small pockets of development are also unlikely to deliver the quantum of development required to solve the housing crisis. The Government may need to be bolder to deliver genuine change.

Greenbelt policy has never required the land to be attractive or have any ecological value. It is designed to stop urban areas going further. For a step change in policy, the new Government should look at and tackle the underlying reason greenbelt is restrictive.

In their manifesto, the Labour party say 'In partnership with local leaders and communities, a Labour government will build a new generation of new towns, inspired by the proud legacy of the 1945 Labour government. Alongside urban extensions and regeneration projects, these will form part of a series of large-scale new communities across England.'

Perhaps 70 years after it was first introduced, now is the moment in which we should have a conversation about large scale urban extension - in an organised way, led by infrastructure. Given the Government's manifesto commitment towards the delivery of new towns and urban extensions, this is now firmly on the agenda.

 VWV has an experienced team of planning, infrastructure and property lawyers who can help from concept inception to delivery and has advised on a wide range of schemes from small scale residential development to tall towers and urban extensions.

For more information please contact David Bird in our Commercial Property team on 0117 314 5382, or complete the form below. Alternatively you can contact Alex Gillott on 020 7665 0146; Beth Sykes on 0117 314 5492 in our Planning team.