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Ministers can build 300,000 homes a year without touching greenfield sites

MBARGOED TO 0001 MONDAY MARCH 25 File photo dated 01/02/18 of houses under construction. More than a million homes could be built on brownfield land, helping to meet housing demand and regenerate towns and cities, campaigners say. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Monday March 25, 2019. A new analysis of councilsÕ brownfield land registers by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) suggests there is space for a million homes on suitable sites which were previously built on and now sit derelict or vacant. See PA story ENVIRONMENT Housing. Photo credit should read: Joe Giddens/PA Wire - Joe Giddens/PA Wire

Ministers can meet their target to build 300,000 homes a year for the next four years without bulldozing any new greenfield sites, research has revealed.

A study found that the number of undeveloped building plots for new homes on brownfield land has surged by a fifth in a year, raising questions over an ongoing Government overhaul of the planning system.

The study by countryside charity CPRE, and obtained by the Telegraph, found there is enough previously developed land in England for 1.33 million homes, which would be sufficient for ministers to hit their 300,000 a year new homes target until 2024, without touching any greenfield pasture.

The new estimate of available land for new homes on previously developed parts of the country – based on existing brownfield registers and local authority data – compares with 1.08 million in 2019, 1.05 million in 2018, and 1.03 million in 2017.

The planning algorithm

Tory MPs are in uproar over plans by the Government to shake up planning rules and force communities in the south of England to take tens of thousands of additional new homes due to a "planning algorithm".

The plans, reportedly the brainchild of Boris Johnson's chief adviser Dominic Cummings, will deliver an additional five million homes across England over the next 15 years, with nearly a third in rural counties.

Dominic Cummings, special advisor for Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson walks outside Downing Street in London, Britain, September 30, 2020. - Hannah McKay/ REUTERS
Dominic Cummings, special advisor for Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson walks outside Downing Street in London, Britain, September 30, 2020. - Hannah McKay/ REUTERS

The CPRE said the research showed that the "planning system is not slowing building rates" with nearly half of the sites having planning permission for over half a million (565,000) units on brownfield land.

Crispin Truman, chief executive of the CPRE, said: "These figures clearly show that the planning system is not what is ailing our housing market.

A misdiagnosed problem

"If there is enough land in the planning system to meet the government’s own housing targets, what will an overhaul of the planning system, with rushed and untested changes, really achieve?

"It’s clear the Government has gravely misdiagnosed the problem – slow build out rates and market led housing are blocking the quality affordable housing that rural communities are crying out for."

London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Sheffield have identified land available for regeneration that would provide nearly half a million homes (458,587).

 Owner : Getty Contributor LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - SEPTEMBER 27, 2020: Conservative MP Theresa Villiers is seen outside the BBC Broadcasting House in central London on 27 September 2020 in London, England.- PHOTOGRAPH BY Wiktor Szymanowicz / Barcroft Studios / Future Publishing - Wiktor Szymanowicz/Barcroft Media/Getty Images
Owner : Getty Contributor LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - SEPTEMBER 27, 2020: Conservative MP Theresa Villiers is seen outside the BBC Broadcasting House in central London on 27 September 2020 in London, England.- PHOTOGRAPH BY Wiktor Szymanowicz / Barcroft Studios / Future Publishing - Wiktor Szymanowicz/Barcroft Media/Getty Images

Conservative MPs have said that the changes will lead to a "disastrous urbanisation of the suburbs" and the threat of "monolithic East Berlin-style development" as councils are forced to deliver the Whitehall plan.

Theresa Villiers, the former Cabinet ministers who represent Barnet which has been earmarked for a 145 per cent uplift in new homes over the next 15 years, said: “This important research is further evidence that if planning permissions already granted were actually built, then we would have the new homes we need without concreting over green spaces.

"The Government needs to think again about its planning reform proposals and its new housing target algorithm.”

Bob Seely, Tory MP for the Isle of Wight, who has been leading the criticism, added: "This is important information. It shows that we do not need to be pushing through low-density, greenfield development, which is very often unpopular with local residents across the UK and does little to address local needs.

“I worry that wholesale reform of the planning system will simply add chaos, when it is clear that working to get brownfield sites ready is the way to answer housing need without concreting shire and suburbs."

Brownfield better for the environment

"The CRPE report is welcome. I hope that ministers will read this report, as well as to continue to listen to dozens of Conservative MPs, and many, many councillors and residents from across England deeply concerned about destructive greenfield development.

"Brownfield development is better for the environment, generally nearer public services, and less dependent on new infrastructure."

A consultation on the overhaul of the planning system closed earlier this month.

Earlier this month Robert Jenrick, the Housing secretary, hinted that the plans could be watered down saying there was a balance "between building homes in the places where today they are the most expensive ... and building them in places where they are not so expensive today but where we would all like to see more investment, more regeneration and renewal".

A Ministry for Housing spokesman said: “The Government is overhauling the country’s outdated planning system to make it easier to build on brownfield sites, protecting our valued green spaces and Green Belt for future generations.

“Our planned reforms will deliver the high-quality, sustainable homes communities need, placing environmental protection, community engagement and sustainability at the heart of our reforms.

“We’ll increase the supply of land available for new homes where it is needed to address affordability pressures, support economic growth and the renewal of our towns and cities.”