The new Labour government have pledged to deliver 1.5 million new homes over the next 5 years to tackle Britain’s acute housing shortage. They want to ‘Get Britain building again’ particularly on previously developed brownfield sites. Planning laws will be reformed to change the designation of certain types of land. Keir Starmer declared ‘We’ll get shovels in the ground, cranes in the sky and build the next generation of Labour new towns.’

Controversial

 However not everyone is happy as part of these plans include a controversial decision to use some land designated as green belt. Green belt land, on the edges of UK towns and cities, is protected to prevent endless urban development. It covers about 13% of land in England. The phrase green belt conjures up images of England’s famous ‘green and pleasant land’ of woods, rolling hills and meadows full of wild flowers. Yet the reality is not always the rural idyll we might imagine. 

The ‘grey belt’

The government have identified some areas of the green belt land as ‘poor quality and ugly’; for example car parks, wasteland and old petrol stations. Newly dubbed the ‘grey belt’, it will be up to individual councils to decide what will be designated as grey. Sam Stafford from the Home Builders Federation said “There just isn’t the land within major towns and cities to meet the housing need in its entirety.” Even if every single brownfield site in England were developed to its full capacity, the government would fail to meet its own target, so new ideas are needed.

Affordable housing

Labour state that grey belt developments must offer 50% affordable housing, significantly more than a previous brownfield target of 10%. It’s going to be a tough one as construction costs have soared due to inflation, so profit-driven private developers are even less willing to build affordable housing. Currently grey belt homes will be built by private developers, but some argue that the government needs to step in and invest in social housing. Keir Starmer has promised that his party will deliver the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation. When synth-pop band Visage released ‘Fade to grey’ in early 1980, nearly 1 in 3 UK households lived in social housing. This era is long gone. Could this be the return of much-needed council houses to the UK? 

Divided opinions

Although everyone agrees that more houses are needed in the UK, opinions remain divided about the use of green belt land to build them on. In High Lane near Stockport, councillors objected to green belt development in the village, on the edge of the Peak District, due to a lack of basic infrastructure, such as roads and health facilities, to support the proposed 4000 new homes. However local businesses would welcome the extra trade and young people would welcome the opportunity to get on the housing ladder. So what’s the solution? Each council has a responsibility to carefully plan developments which incorporate nature and people in sensible and sustainable ways. The future is bright, the future is green, brown and grey! We look forward to a fresh start in housing under the new Labour government. 

Veritas Surveying are chartered quantity surveyors and dispute claims consultants based in Manchester.

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