Less than 10% of the green belt will be released for development under the Government’s changes to planning rules, a minister has said.
Under plans announced earlier in December, the Government confirmed that councils would be ordered to meet housing targets by identifying lower quality “grey-belt” land within the green belt that could be built on.
Appearing before the Lords Built Environment Committee on Wednesday, housing minister Matthew Pennycook said this would not result in a “significant” reduction in the size of the green belt, but would still be “impactful” in terms of increasing housebuilding.
He said: “I am confident that we will see green belt release through grey belt in single digits in terms of total proportion of the green belt.
“That’s what I mean by not significant, we are not talking about 40%, 50%, 60% of the green belt being released.”
But he was unable to place a precise figure on the amount of green belt that might be released, saying this would depend on local circumstances.
Under changes introduced by the Government, “grey-belt” land has been defined as land in the green belt that has either previously been developed, or does not “strongly contribute” to the aims of the green belt.
The updated national planning policy framework (NPPF) also committed to a “brownfield first” strategy, with disused sites prioritised for new building and grey-belt land only being released if brownfield sites do not provide enough houses.
Any development on green belt land must comply with new “golden rules”, which require developers to provide infrastructure for local communities, such as nurseries, GP surgeries and transport, as well as a higher level of social and affordable housing.
Research suggests that grey-belt land could amount to between 1% and 3% of the existing green belt, providing enough sites for between 200,000 and 300,000 homes.
The Government has committed to building 1.5 million new homes over the course of this Parliament, amounting to 300,000 homes per year.
