Lords Grey Belt inquiry to hear evidence on the role of the legal system within the planning process

On Tuesday 29 October 2024, the House of Lords Built Environment Committee, as part of its inquiry on the Grey Belt, will hear evidence from two witnesses.

At 10.45am the committee will hear from:

• Simon Ricketts, Partner, Town Legal.

At 11.30am the committee will hear from:

• Professor Paul Cheshire CBE, Emeritus Professor of Economic Geography, London School of Economics.

These sessions, which are open to the public, will be held in Committee Room 3 of the House of Lords and streamed live on Parliament TV.

Questions the committee is likely to ask include:

• How applicable in practice the proposed definition of the Grey Belt is.
• The extent to which the proposed changes will affect the likelihood of legal challenges to local authority planning decisions.
• Whether the current approach to viability assessments and 106 agreements will be able to deliver the 50 per cent affordable housing that the Government wants on Grey Belt sites.
• How existing transport infrastructure can be leveraged to support the sustainable development of Grey Belt land.
• Whether these proposals will actually result in more or different land coming forward for development compared to existing processes for Green Belt release.
• Likely unintended consequences from the Grey Belt proposals as they are currently drafted.

More on this inquiry

The new Government has set itself a target of building 1.5 million homes over the next five years. However, developers have warned that building only on brownfield sites will not be sufficient to meet this target. As a result, the Government has proposed revising the National Planning Policy Framework and has conducted a consultation on its proposals for releasing Green Belt land. A key element of its proposals is the creation of a new designation of “Grey Belt” land.

This short inquiry aims to gain a better understanding of what will constitute Grey Belt land, how this new designation might contribute to meeting the Government’s housing targets, and what sustainable development within the Grey Belt might look like.

During the inquiry, the Committee will consider the Government’s proposed “golden rules” for ensuring that development on Green Belt land released under these processes benefits the public. These include the inclusion of affordable housing, infrastructure, and enhanced green space in any such development. The committee will also assess the likely impact of these golden rules on the likelihood of successful development in the Grey Belt.