Over one million homes could be built on England’s brownfield land, research from the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) suggests.
CPRE writes:
With estimates for brownfield capacity previously ranging from 200,000 to 1.8 million, the report provides the first comprehensive figure for brownfield capacity since the end of mandatory local authority submissions to the National Land Use Database (NLUD) in 2010.
Based on research conducted for CPRE by the University of the West of England (UWE), ‘From wasted space to living spaces’ concludes that a minimum of 976,000 new homes could be built on identified brownfield sites. But the researchers note that even this figure underestimates suitable land as it only identifies land already derelict or with planning permission; it does not include currently underused land that could be used for housing, such as car parks, or new brownfield land that will become available.
Responding to the report, housing and planning minister Brandon Lewis said: ‘This Government wants to see the maximum amount of brownfield land being used to build new homes, whilst also maintaining protections for our beautiful countryside. That is why our planning reforms encourage councils to use brownfield land for new buildings, free up disused public sector land for redevelopment and why we’ve invested £235m into bringing 80,000 long term empty homes back into use since 2010.’
