The government’s housebuilding plans have come under fire from a new report by the Community Planning Alliance (CPA), backed by environmental campaigner Chris Packham, who argues that the countryside is at grave risk from a government “hellbent” on achieving its “sky-high” targets.
The report challenges the government’s proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), expected imminently, which would force councils to accept development on green spaces to meet nationally-set goals, and allow objections based on protecting nature to be overruled. It would also reclassify ‘grey belt’ land within the Green Belt.
The CPA, which represents grassroots groups across the UK, drawing on analysis from leading planners, environmental scientists, and housing experts, argues that the government’s plans, taken alongside its New Towns programme, will have profoundly damaging consequences for Britain’s countryside and its efforts to reach Net Zero, while doing little to lower prices or address the chronic shortage of social housing.
Building on green spaces, the report warns, would destroy vital natural defences against climate change, including carbon sinks such as trees, hedges, and soil, while directly threatening wildlife habitats.
Research also shows that building 300,000 homes a year, even with an energy efficiency focus, would use up the entirety of the UK’s carbon budget by 2050.
Instead, the report argues that not a single green space needs to be lost to housing, pointing to the millions of homes available on brownfield land, in empty, derelict houses and commercial buildings, and in the nation’s 26 million spare bedrooms.
The CPA is proposing a six-point strategy for councils, including:
- Update brownfield land registers and prioritise suitable sites for housing. The CPRE’s Reports suggest enough land exists for over 1.2 million homes, with additional potential for more than 100,000 homes above public car parks, according to Knight Frank
- Bring empty homes back into use. Over 1.5m unoccupied dwellings could be retrofitted or renovated to avoid needless carbon emissions associated with new construction.
- Review unused commercial and public buildings and convert them into residential units. Currently 165,000 privately-owned commercial and business premises remain empty.
- Better promote its £7,500 tax-free ‘Rent a Room Scheme’. Renting out just 1.74% of 26 million empty bedrooms could see rent prices return to 2017 levels.
- Adopt density principles in local plans. It would be possible to save 42,000 hectares, an area the size of the Isle of Wight.
- The government must focus on the one million homes that have been granted planning permission but remain unbuilt.
Chris Packham, Wildlife TV presenter and campaigner, said: “We have a housing crisis, there’s no doubt about that, but we have a biodiversity crisis too and that situation is critical. The Green Belt is incredibly important, it was designed to stop urban sprawl and enhance the quality of people’s lives. We need to think more creatively about how we can design and build good quality, affordable housing with communities and nature in mind.”
Rosie Pearson, co-founder of the CPA, added: “This is a litmus test for the new Labour government which, despite being hellbent on hitting its sky-high, developer-led housing targets, must not sacrifice the environment. The vast majority of UK voters believe it’s important to protect nature and green spaces, which should be a last resort only for housebuilding. Our ‘Homes for Everyone’ report demonstrates that there are clear ways to meet housing needs without destroying the countryside or worsening climate change.”
