Most of the new homes approved under the government’s ‘grey belt’ policy are not going on derelict petrol stations or abandoned car parks but on untouched Green Belt countryside.
New CPRE analysis shows 88% of the 1,250 homes signed off by government inspectors since December 2024 will be built on previously undeveloped land including prime farmland and even a designated Local Wildlife Site.
That blows a hole in ministers’ claims that ‘grey belt’ would target only scrubland and disused plots.
Approvals have been pushed through over the heads of local councils with 13 major schemes getting the green light plus 21 smaller projects.
The examples are stark. Tonbridge in Kent will see 57 houses built on some of the best-quality farmland in the country.
Castle Point in Essex has been cleared for 47 homes on a Local Wildlife Site. Both are reclassified as ‘grey belt’ despite being protected countryside.
This sits uneasily with earlier promises. When launching the policy last year ministers cited “disused petrol stations” and “abandoned car parks”. Sir Keir Starmer himself described grey belt as “poor-quality scrubland” on town edges. The reality on the ground is nothing of the sort.
It is also unnecessary. CPRE’s analysis shows enough brownfield land exists for 1.4 million homes with almost half already carrying planning permission. Hitting the 1.5 million homes target does not require tearing into the Green Belt.
CPRE wants the government to tighten the definition of grey belt so it only covers previously developed land and to protect high-grade farmland and key wildlife sites from speculative sprawl.
CEO Roger Mortlock put it bluntly: “In practice the government’s ‘grey belt’ policy has not been about building on petrol stations but an existential threat to the Green Belt.”
Labour is building on greenbelt says CPRE appeared first on Energy Live News.