Is brownfield land the answer to the housing crisis?

A new consultation seeks to pave the way for residential development on brownfield land (commonly referred to as ‘previously developed land’) in order to meet housing delivery targets across the country. 

In December 2023, Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities, wrote to Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, expressing concern regarding the level of affordable housing being provided across the capital. Gove commissioned an expert panel to consider those aspects of the London Plan that may be preventing homes from coming forward with a particular focus on brownfield sites.

In January the panel issued their report to Gove which highlighted that there had been an undersupply of more than 60,000 homes in London (between 2019 and 2023 when measured against targets using GLA completion figures). Accordingly, the panel recommended that an overarching policy be introduced into the London Plan to create a presumption in favour of granting planning permission for proposals which include residential development on brownfield land (in certain qualifying local authority areas). 

Following a review of the report the Secretary of State wrote to the Mayor setting out his view that there would be a benefit to applying the recommendations, not only across London, but all of England. The Government is therefore now consulting on three proposed changes:

1. A change to the National Planning Policy Framework to encourage decision-makers to take a more proportionate approach in applying policies relating to the internal layouts of development, giving more weight to housing delivery.

The consultation suggests amending policy to give “significant weight” to housing delivery, “especially” on brownfield land, with authorities encouraged to take a “flexible approach” in applying policies/guidance relating to internal layouts of developments where these policies would otherwise inhibit making the most efficient use of a site. The consultation is also seeking views on whether such flexibility should be extended to external matters.  

2. A change to the Housing Delivery Test (which assesses how well authorities are delivering houses) where all authorities subject to the housing need urban uplift (being a 35% uplift that was introduced in 2020 to the 20 most populous towns and cities in England) will be subject to a presumption in favour of sustainable development on brownfield land should they not deliver at least 95% of their assessed need.

This would mean that all 32 London Boroughs, the City of London and 19 other planning authorities across England would be subject to the new presumption.

3. A change to the unit threshold (currently at 150 units) that determines which residential applications are referred to the Mayor for determination. 

The intention being that fewer applications would be referred to the Mayor to prevent duplication and delay. 

The strengthening of the test in relation to development of brownfield land may prove helpful in some cases. However, in many cases, there are multiple constraints on brownfield redevelopments, including in respect of viability, which are blocking delivery. 

The consultation is available here and closes on 26 March.