Twenty-one council areas in England could become the key battlegrounds for green belt development under the Government's new planning rules, according to analysis by consultancy Planning By Design.
The firm matched official data on housing delivery, green belt coverage and affordability. A battleground is a council that delivered under 75% of its required homes, has at least half its land in the green belt and is less affordable than the England average.
Nine are in the East of England, eight in the South East, two in London and two in the West Midlands, with none in the North. Together they delivered 21,827 homes against a requirement of 48,065 over three years, a shortfall of 26,238.
Sevenoaks has the largest green belt area (34,390 ha), while Tandridge has the highest share, covering 93.9% of its land.
The consultancy stressed the list is not a map of where building will happen, as green belt land remains subject to its own policy tests.
‘We have spent a year telling landowners that reform of the Green Belt is not the same thing as permission on their field. That is still true, and it is still the most expensive misunderstanding in this market,’ said Aaron Basi, Head of Town Planning at Planning By Design.
‘None of this means the Green Belt in these areas is about to be built on. What changes is how hard the arguments will be fought, and how much depends on getting the evidence right from the start. In a battleground authority, a weak application is likely to be refused and a weak refusal is likely to be tested at appeal.’
Further reading
Do we REALLY need the Green Belt?
The need for Green Belt reform
