Brownfield first policy needed

The Countryside Charity, CPRE, has published a new report, Recycling our Land: State of Brownfield 2021 which sets out numerous recommendations for brownfield sites in England.

CPRE states that there is an increase in brownfield land available for redevelopment, but over the last 12 months a smaller proportion of brownfield land has been granted planning permission.

In 2021 44% of brownfield housing had planning permission, this is down from 53% the previous year and is the lowest permission levels for four years.

There are a number of key recommendations made in the CPRE's report to help make better use of brownfield sites, these include:

• the introduction in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) of a comprehensive brownfield-first policy which prioritises and harnesses the full potential of brownfield land development before any greenfield or green belt land is considered;
• brownfield targeted housing funds to incentives developments that deliver on brownfield land and provide affordable homes to allow for brownfield land to serve the needs and regeneration of the North and Midlands;
• providing local communities with stronger mechanisms to bring brownfield land forward as a source of land supply, such as increased compulsory purchase powers;
• enable local authorities to have increased control of the order in which development land is built so that suitable brownfield sites are developed first;
• retaining local communities’ ability to comment on planning applications and local authorities’ ability to refuse developments on brownfield land, and provide legal guarantees that require developers to deliver agreed design standards;
• amending the NPPF to ensure national planning policy require all new developments to have a diversity of housing tenures and types.

CPRE head of land use and planning, Paul Miner, said that in order to prevent the countryside being developed, CPRE is calling for new national planning policies that prioritise brownfield land development in local plans.

Emma Bridgewater, president of CPRE, commented: “A brownfield-first policy is sound, good sense. We need to direct councils and developers to use these sites – often in town and city centres where housing need is most acute – before any greenfield land can be released. It is wasteful and immoral to abandon our former industrial heartlands where factories and outdated housing have fallen into disrepair. Developing brownfield is a win-win solution that holds back the tide of new buildings on pristine countryside and aids urban regeneration at a stroke.”