Grey Belt and Green Belt Explained

Labour’s Town Planning reforms have introduced a new phrase in the public planning debate. You may have heard politicians referring to the ‘grey belt’… but what does it mean? We are much more used to hearing mention of the Green Belt, which has a legislative and geographic definition. As a turn of phrase, the ‘Green Belt’ has had decades to seep into public consciousness. People might not be aware of the specifics of the legal town planning designation, but the name conjures a general sense of preservation of green open areas. So what kind of imagery does the term Grey belt conjure in your mind? If you would prefer to skip straight to a universally agreed-upon definition then we have some frustrating news for you… there isn’t one. In this article, we draw together political discussion, and professional town planning insights to unpack the question of the Grey Belt. This article has been coauthored by interdisciplinary professionals at WWA including Johnathan Headland (Urban Design Director), and Ifti Maniar (Planning Director).

Key definitions…

‘Green belt’ areas are protected land around the perimeter of existing urban centres where development is heavily restricted by national planning policy.
‘Brownfield sites’ are areas of land that have been previously developed and are therefore deemed as preferable locations for new, often higher-density buildings.
‘Greenfield sites’ are previously undeveloped sites.
The ‘Grey Belt’ is a relatively new term referring to ‘Brownfield’ sites that exist within the Green Belt and any areas of Green Belt which make a limited contribution to the five purposes of the Green Belt. When considered together, these disparate and often disconnected pockets of land form a collective opportunity for the densification of housing near existing urban centres, without building over virgin green space.

Do you still think the term ‘Grey Belt’ is somewhat vague? Well, the open nature of the term is intended to give individual Local Planning Authorities the latitude to define for themselves, what constitutes Grey Belt within their local context and whether or not it contributes to five purposes of the Green Belt. Expect this term to be hotly contested over the next 5 years of planning reform.

The Green Belt Backstory

Ifti Maniar – Planning Director (WWA)

The idea of the Green Belt in the public consciousness is quite different from how it is defined in technical terms. England has 15 Green Belts (GB) covering approximately 1.6 million hectares, representing around 12.6% of the country’s total land area. The term ‘Green Belt’ was first coined by Octavia Hill in 1875 to describe a ring of countryside meant to resist urbanisation, and it became a formal policy in the 1940s. The primary aim of GB policy is to prevent urban sprawl by maintaining open land around cities and towns.

Over the past 70 years, additional layers of designations have been added to the land within the Green Belt. So much of the land within the GB is protected under more than one form of designation, some of which are quantified below.

Approximately 68,686 hectares of Green Belt land are registered as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).
8,490 Ha of National Nature Reserve (9% of NNR area)
48 new Local Nature Reserves (LNRs) have been created in the Green Belt between 2009 and 2015.
34% of Community Forest land is within Green Belts, covering 32% of all Green Belts.
65.7% of Green Belt land is currently used for agriculture, and 53% of this land is subject to agri-environment schemes funded by Natural England.
9.1% of the Green Belt (147,187 hectares) overlaps with Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), compared to 16% of the total AONB area in England

Source: England Green Belts fact sheets prepared by CPRE

These statistics illustrate that GB policy is not just a single layer of designation preventing urban sprawl, but that it is rather a complex overlapping of multiple layers that play a significant role in creating sustainable development. Identifying the ideal ‘Grey Belt’ within this multi-layered GB land is far from straightforward and is the first major hurdle to navigate.

Planning consultancies all over England will soon be testing their Local Authority’s interpretation of this definition, by bringing forward many previously unviable sites situated within the Green Belt, and by making representations throughout the development of Local Plans. It will take some time for useful case studies to play out with enough regularity and predictability that developers are prepared to invest en masse.

Is the Green Belt Shrinking?

That depends on where you are in the country. The GB grew by 8.6 km² between March 2022 and March 2023 because of local planning authorities amending the extent of their land designated as GB. In previous years however, the extent of the GB had reduced by an average of 24 km² per year because of this type of change in designation. Changes in the estimated size of the GB are mostly due to LPAs adopting new plans that alter the area of that authority’s GB. Overall, GB policies have largely protected the land and remained unchanged over the past 20 years. The distribution of GB land by region in England is however not evenly spread, as evidenced in the adjacent table.

Comparing 2003 to 2023, Green Belt areas have grown in the Southwest and Northwest while decreasing in other regions. The most significant pressure on GB land is in the East, London, and Southeast regions, where Green Belt areas have reduced by approximately 8.5% over the past 20 years.

How Long Will It Take to Increase Housing Supply?

The new government agenda emphasises that brownfield sites and poor-quality areas within the Green Belt— referred to as the ‘Grey Belt’—should be prioritised for development. Releasing suitable Green Belt edges for housing could unlock opportunities for sustainable, well-planned communities. Particularly, in the East, London, and Southeast regions where housing need is highest.

To kickstart housebuilding momentum, publishing detailed guidance on the ‘Grey Belt’ will be crucial. This must include how parcels or areas are sized, the appraisal process, and the interpretation of purposes. Smaller sites will be more palatable for quick decision-making. Sizeable areas that could support a new town, for instance, are very unlikely to come forward through this policy change until more modest precedents are set and proven successful. Development, on such a scale, we think, would be the most direct way to provide much-needed housing. However, the sort of long-term planning and investment that would be needed for a new town is difficult within the time constraints of a single term of government. The Government have released a policy statement titled “The government’s vision for a new generation of new towns.“

Framing the Political Context

Johnathan Headland – Urban Design Director (WWA)

The Labour Manifesto’s, ambition to reframe housing as an engine for economic growth, is a laudable one. In recent times, and, especially towards the end of the last parliament, the Housing Crisis felt ignored, its pathway to solution littered with unappealing political trade-offs adding to the sense of inevitability that the UK was transitioning away from a generation of homeowners to something much more transitory.

For too long our politics around housing has been a binary one, daring to suggest that it is possible to maintain the purpose and functionality of the green belt whilst at the same time managing a process of selected release for much-needed housing, commercial, and associated infrastructure delivery is a good first step. Seeking to achieve universal coverage of Local Plans by the end of this parliament is another.

Fun fact – Only 1/3 of Local Plans in England are up to date and less than 5 years old, similarly nearly 1/3 of Local Plans are at least 10 years old with some being up to 30 years old. This is a staggering fact given ours is a plan-led system! And little wonder we are losing a new generation of opportunity. Data source: Planning Inspectorate ‘Local Plan: Monitoring Progress

How would the journey to 300k homes a year manifest under this new regime? First, it is important to understand just how ambitious this target is. On a five-year average England has built 210k homes a year in the recent past, this does account for both the initial impacts of COVID-19 but also the manic post-COVID resurgence in pent-up demand. Overseeing five consecutive years in which 300k+ DPA (dwellings per annum) are completed would be without modern precedent. The last time 300k DPA was achieved was 1969-70, under Labour’s Harold Wilson.

The Elephant in the Room is Affordable Housing

The true story of the housing crisis is not of private sector failure but of public sector direct provision falling off a cliff. Back in 1969/70, public sector direct provision, in the form of local authority housing, equated to around half of all new housing completions. A step change in provision such as this would be transformational not only in achieving our much-maligned target but in terms of its impact on market dynamics generally and society as a whole.

You don’t have to look far back into our collective past for a time when council housing was seen as a golden opportunity, rather than a choice of last resort. The is a direct correlation between the rise of stigma around affordable housing and its diminished contribution to the national housing supply. The re-establishment of mainstay public sector housing as an essential part of our housing supply puzzle also offers a natural competitor to private sector provision and it is market forces that hold the key to unlocking one elusive area of debate, that of beauty.

A meaningful competitor to that of private sector housing provisioning has the opportunity to reshape the whole market, with a renewed focus on design quality front and centre of a burgeoning public housing supply- delivery of 90k DPA would naturally incentivise a more holistic focus on design from the private sector. It’s not just design quality that can be leveraged as part of this change, the opportunity of a new social contract with high-quality housing available to a broader range of society.

How Will Green Belt Changes Impact You and Your Business?

When we speak to each of our clients in the housing supply chain, whether housing associations, speculative developers, or one-off self-builders, Labour’s planning reforms affect them in vastly different and nuanced ways. Our planning team has significant experience promoting and securing planning permission within the Green Belt and finding opportunities for ‘Grey Belt’. We recently secured permission for 25 homes in the Green Belt which you can read about here. We are keen to share our experience with new clients and hear your perspectives so if you require expert planning advice please get in touch.