The Labour Party’s proposal to introduce five ‘golden rules’ for ‘grey belt’ development is an important initiative to help deliver more homes, says the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).
This comes as part of Labour’s plans to build 1.5 million new homes within the first five years of its government. Its five golden rules are:
- Brownfield first
- Grey belt second
- Affordable homes
- Boost public services and infrastructure
- Improve genuine green spaces
The ‘grey belt’ it refers to represents the neglected areas, such as poor-quality wastelands and disused car parks, that are in the green belt.
While Labour says it is committed to prioritise building on brownfield land first, the government can’t build the homes that Britain needs without also releasing some green belt. This is where the grey belt comes into planning.
The Party also said in its plans that while it would build on this grey belt, it would work to enhancing current green belt land by making it more accessible to the public, with new woodland, parks and playing fields.
Commenting on the proposal, Brian Berry, chief executive of the FMB, said: “The UK is experiencing a growing housing crisis and brownfield sites alone are insufficient to tackle the scale of the challenge that we face. While brownfield land should be prioritised, introducing new measures to create more buildable land and is vital, particularly small sites which can be used by local house builders, as this will help to create more diverse, quality housing.
“More detail is needed about the proposal, particularly as to how ‘poor-quality and ugly areas’ are to be classified as grey belt. However, we know that many small sites in green belt areas, such as disused car parks and petrol stations, would be perfectly suitable for housing. Unlocking small sites would present significant opportunities, and these proposals must be supported with increased funding to empower local authority planning departments to support micro and SME housebuilders through the planning system.”
