With the aim of boosting the supply of new homes and making the best use of land, the government has announced that every council in England will be told to prioritise brownfield developments and instructed to be more flexible in applying policies that halt housebuilding on brownfield land. A consultation on the proposed policy changes to strengthen planning support for brownfield development will run until 26th March. The consultation seeks feedback on three proposals;
- Changes to national planning policy to give significant weight to the benefits of delivering as many homes as possible, especially where this involves land which is previously developed, and take a flexible approach in applying planning policies or guidance relating to the internal layout of development. This policy would apply to all authorities.
- Changes to the way the Housing Delivery Test operates in the 20 major towns and cities subject to the uplift in the standard method. This would introduce an additional presumption trigger where their Housing Delivery Test score falls below 95%. In these circumstances the presumption in favour of sustainable development would apply to applications on previously developed land.
- Reviewing the threshold for referral of applications to the Mayor of London, currently set at 150 homes or more, to ensure that it adds value to the process of determining applications for potential strategic importance, and does not inadvertently slow down development.
The full definition of ‘brownfield land’ is set out in Annex 2 of the National Planning Policy Framework, and is clear that brownfield land does not include residential gardens.
The full press article can be found here (link), and a link to the full consultation document with background information can be found here (link).
