The Live Wire



Press Release

Urban regeneration undermined by greenfield development says new report

1 July 2009

A groundbreaking study published today (Wednesday) by countryside campaigners, CPRE, demonstrates that an excess of greenfield land with planning permission can render brownfield development unviable.

Drawing on data on planning consents, housebuilding and construction costs, researchers created a model of development viability. This was used to explore how the availability of greenfield land with planning permission affects the economics of brownfield development in nine local authority areas. The research finds that brownfield viability is worst affected in areas which have significantly more greenfield than brownfield land supply.

Brownfield viability is less affected by low levels of competing greenfield land supply. The research suggests, especially in North Tyneside and Corby, that high levels of housebuilding in one part of a local authority area sends market signals that make development less viable in other parts of the same authority area.

Kate Gordon, CPRE’s Senior Planner, said:

'These findings have wide significance. Councils are expected to find land to accommodate the national target of 3 million new homes by 2020. Areas that have relied in the past on brownfield sites to meet their housing needs, face pressure to allocate greenfield land for development. As a consequence, areas where brownfield development viability is not at present threatened by competing greenfield land supply, such as Southampton, may find that this situation changes in future.’

Kate Gordon concluded:

‘We urge Councils contemplating large-scale greenfield land releases not to proceed unless they are satisfied these will not harm prospects for redevelopment and regeneration. Tremendous potential still exists to make better use of brownfield opportunities and reap the long term rewards in terms of urban renewal. As this study shows, for this potential to be realised, great care needs to be taken over the scale, location and timing of greenfield land release.’

Copies of CPRE’s report Brownfield Market Signals: Greenfield housing land supply and the viability of brownfield housing development and executive summary are available here:

> Brownfield Market Signals (1.6MB PDF)
> Brownfield Market Signals: Executive Summary (26K PDF)



Press releases, papers and documents published on this page are the intellectual property of an organisation unrelated to Central Lobby. We promote their parliamentary and political campaigning activities as they are subscribers to the Central Lobby service.

As such, Central Lobby does not edit, endorse, or attempt to balance the opinions expressed on this page. The content of press releases and other such types of content are the responsibility of the originating organisation.

Campaign to Protect Rural England

More from Dods

© Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd