News

CPRE Says Government Housebuilding Plans Must Retain Brownfield First Approach

19th April 2006

As Parliament returns this week, countryside campaigner, CPRE, is calling on MPs and peers around the country to back their housing campaign. The group is asking MPs to show their support by signing an Early Day Motion 1770 which calls for a brownfield first – greenfield last approach to new housing development.

The Government’s proposed new planning policy on housing (PPS3) would give market forces a much stronger role with demand for housing met where possible within the same ‘market area’ where it arises. CPRE is campaigning for changes to strengthen the final policy, expected this summer.

Kate Gordon, CPRE’s planning officer, said: "In the last four years we’ve seen major progress in regenerating our towns and cities. This proposed new policy risks undermining all that. Unless it is changed, it will damage the prospects for urban renewal and lead to increased greenfield sprawl – yet do little to tackle the need for more affordable housing.

"The Government has said it remains committed to a brownfield first approach. CPRE welcomes that. But its proposed new policy would make it harder to achieve in practice. Councils won’t have the powers they need to make sure brownfield sites take priority over development on greenfields. This is potentially bad news both for the countryside and urban areas.

"We urgently need new homes, but it is vital that they are affordable, well designed and environmentally sustainable. We’re calling on the Government to strengthen its policy before publishing the final version this summer."

"It makes no sense to develop in the countryside and at the same time fail to tackle problems of urban decline and decay. We need to make much better use of the thousands of empty homes and swathes of derelict land and underused buildings that exist within our towns and cities."

As well as a clear ‘brownfield first’ approach, CPRE is calling for:

* robust assessments of an area’s environmental capacity to take new development before deciding how many homes should be built and where

* stronger planning powers to secure better design and layout of new development

* a strengthened Code for Sustainable Homes which ensures all new housing incorporates principles of sustainable design and construction

* more resources for and powers to secure affordable housing in urban and rural areas