Research shows 50% rise of new homes planned for greenfield sites with more than 70% not classed as ‘affordable’

The Conservatives have been accused of failing to protect the countryside after research revealed that the number of new homes being planned on green belt in England had increased by over 50% since last year and the majority were not classed as affordable.



Theresa May told parliament in February that the government was “very clear that the green belt must be protected”, but 425,000 new homes are currently planned for sites designated to protect against urban sprawl, up from 273,000 in March 2016, according to research by the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

More than 70% of those are not classed as affordable, a category that includes social housing and homes rented by housing associations for up to 80% of market rent.

“Green belt is being lost at an ever faster rate, yet the type of housing being built now or in the future will do very little to address the affordable housing crisis,” said the CPRE’s policy director, Tom Fyans.

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The research shows that planning applications on greenfield sites have nearly doubled since the Conservatives’ National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) came into effect in 2012 and that only 16% of homes built on green belt since 2009 have been affordable.

More than 1.8 million households are waiting for a social home, according to the housing charity Shelter, an increase of 81% since 1997.

In the West Midlands, the number of homes proposed on green belt rose from 44,170 in March 2016 to 72,650 in May 2017 and only 17% of them are planned to be affordable, according to the CPRE’s scrutiny of draft and approved local plans.

In the north west, the figures rose even more steeply, from 19,024 to 97,528, with the launch of the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework, which has proposed 56,000 homes on the green belt surrounding the metropolitan area.

The CPRE report states: “The trend we see for low density development in green belt is a shocking waste of land not only in itself but because real social need will continue to go unmet.”

Housebuilders claim green belt covers 13% of all of England and has grown in the last decade and that councils are right to use it.

“Local authorities that have amended green belt boundaries have done so only after examining fully all other reasonable options for meeting their housing requirements,” said a spokesman for the Home Builders Federation. “It is the most responsible and sustainable course of action rather than ignoring their housing requirements.”

But there have been questions about the type of housing being planned. Plans for a “garden village” on open fields at Godley Green in Tameside call for “a high proportion of aspirational and executive homes”, while an extension to Norden and Bamford to the west of Rochdale will be “targeting the top end of the housing market with the intention of retaining and attracting highly skilled professionals within Greater Manchester,” according to the framework document.

The recently elected mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has announced a “radical rewrite” of the plan but confirmed “there will be a substantial reduction in the loss of green belt”.

Asked about the type of housing that would go on green belt, a spokesman for Burnham said the mayor wanted to “ensure truly affordable housing is available for everyone in Greater Manchester”.

In the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, which includes much of May’s parliamentary constituency, a local plan was passed to its next stage last week that involves the use of 1.5% of the borough’s green belt for 6,000 new homes.

According to a local newspaper report, Derek Wilson, the cabinet member for planning, told a heated public meeting: “I know that this may be unpopular for some of our residents but this is happening in every borough up and down the country as the population increases. We must do something to address the lack of provision.”

In the West Midlands, the new Black Country Core Strategy has included plans for around 60,000 homes, but 22,000 more are needed to meet demand. As part of a public consultation starting next month, there will be a “call for sites” where people can put forward areas of land they feel may be suitable for development.

“One issue that will come under discussion is building on green belt land,” said Patrick Harley, the leader of Dudley council. “This is always something we would see as a council as very much a last resort. But something has to give, and there is no point in burying our heads in the sand. We are clearly going to have to make some tough decisions on where these 22,000 new homes should go.”

A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said it did not recognise the CPRE’s figures, and said that before any proposed homes could be built, planning permission would be required under the NPPF, which includes “tough protections for green belt”.

“This government is committed to protect the green belt,” the spokesman said. “Only in exceptional circumstances may councils alter green belt boundaries, after consulting local people and submitting the revised local plan for examination. We’ve been clear that councils must prioritise development on brownfield land, and announced plans to radically boost brownfield development.”

He said that in 2015-16, 0.02% of England’s green belt was converted to residential use and that councils were expected to prioritise development on brownfield.