Progress on brownfield reuse but Green Belt loss continues
28 May 2009
Land use change figures (1) published by the Government today (Thursday) show that 78% of homes were built on brownfield last year. CPRE (2) welcomed the continuing progress in making better use of existing developed sites but were alarmed at continuing building within the Green Belt and in areas of high flood risk, despite Government commitments. (3)
Neil Sinden, CPRE’s Policy and Campaigns Director, said: ‘The brownfield figures are good news for the countryside as well as for urban areas that have benefitted from regeneration. The figures also show that land is being used more efficiently than in the past, although greenfield land continues to be developed at unsustainably low densities.’ (4)
But we should not be complacent. Across the country, regeneration schemes are stalling, while greenfields continue to be allocated for development on a large scale (5). This increases the risk of developers ‘cherry-picking’ greenfield over brownfield sites when the market recovers since they tend to be easier and more profitable to develop in the short term.(6)’
Neil Sinden concluded: ‘In developing strategies to tackle the current challenges facing housing supply, we need to recognise the huge benefits secured over the last decade from successful brownfield regeneration. Green Belt protection clearly needs to be tightened if this progress is to be sustained. It would be folly to make it easier to develop greenfield sites in a desperate attempt to kick-start the housing market.’
NOTES FOR EDITORS
1. The Land Use Change Statistics (England) 2008 were published by CLG as a Planning Statistical Release on Thursday 28 May.
2. CPRE, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, is a charity which promotes the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England. We advocate positive solutions for the long-term future of the countryside. Founded in 1926, we have 60,000 supporters and a branch in every county. President: Bill Bryson. Patron: Her Majesty The Queen. www.cpre.org.uk. CPRE launched 2026 - A Vision for the Countryside in May, setting out a positive and optimistic vision for the future of the beautiful English countryside in 2026, the charity’s centenary year. The Vision’s key issues include: affordable, high quality housing; urban regeneration; Green Belts; better planning; green energy; local food and farming; quality of life; light pollution and valuing the countryside as a national asset. For further information go to www.cpre.org.uk/campaigns/environment/2026-a-vision-for-the-countryside. 3. The LUCS figures also suggest a worrying continuation of loss of Green Belt. An average of over three square miles (1035 ha) of countryside and open space were lost to new development each year between 1997 and 2003, and the building of enough dwellings (45,000) in the Green Belt for a city the size of Bath. While it is not possible to determine the area of Green Belt lost in more recent years due to the way in which the LUCS data is presented, today’s figures suggest this trend continues. Yet, in a recent letter to the London Green Belt Council, the Planning Minister, Ian Wright MP, said: ‘Please be assured that the Government certainly does not regard PPG2 as an old ideology. It was the Prime Minister himself who told the House of Commons that we’ will continue to protect robustly the land designated as Green Belt….. The presence of Green Belt means that the land so designated will generally remain unavailable for major new development.’ In December last year the Government published its response to the Pitt Review of the 2007 summer floods promising more effective action to tackle flooding and flood risk. 4. While the average density of new dwellings in 2008 was 46 dwellings per hectare overall compared with 44 dwellings per hectare in 2007, the density of dwellings on non previously developed land were at an average of only 34 dwellings per hectare. In general, it is considered that a density of at least 50 dpha is necessary in order to support a viable bus service and to help secure other essential public services. 5. Research by CPRE published in October last year found that over 70,000 new homes were planned to be built on greenfield land each year in existing and emerging Regional Spatial Strategies. 6. CPRE will shortly be publishing fresh research on the relationship between greenfield land allocations and the viability of brownfield development.
