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Research finds increasing amount of available brownfield sites

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The number of brownfield sites available for development around the country increased by 10per cent in the last year, research shows, with the amount of brownfield land available in London providing enough space for 355,000 new homes.

Brownfield turned into homes: under-used land, such as with the Morello development at East Croydon, is waiting to be used

Using brownfield – land and property that has been built on previously – is claimed by the Conservative government, and Croydon South’s Tory MP Chris Philp, to be the preferred option, instead of building on previously undeveloped, greenfield sites.

Yet the research conducted on behalf new-build platform on behalf of new-build platform  Unlatch shows that there is sufficient brownfield land to create £463billion-worth of homes.

Lying Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Levelling Up secretary, Michael Gove, have spoken about plans to use more of the country’s brownfield land. Johnson said, “We are going to put more publicly owned brownfield land to use and seek to unlock small sites that are ideal for the kind of unobtrusive development that communities welcome.”

The use of the words “unlock small sites” in Johnson’s quote ought to ring alarm bells for anyone in Croydon, as it is the kind of approach which was pursued at such massive expense by Paul Scott, Jo Negrini and Colm Lacey in the disastrous housing misadventure called Brick by Brick, which ultimately bankrupted the borough.

Unlocking “small sites” can be difficult and costly; there’s often good reason why commercial developers opt to pass on such “opportunities”. And it can also mean that existing residents might see their amenity spaces – a patch of grass here, children’s playgrounds, old garages, used as part of the development site.

According to Unlatch’s research, London is the location of the most available brownfield land, with space for 355,644 new homes. “With the average London new-build valued at £565,192 in the current market, there is the potential to add £200billion worth of housing to the capital’s housing market,” Unlatch reckons.

“Brownfield sites are the ideal place to build new homes. Unlike Green Belt land, brown sites do nothing to detract from the nation’s natural beauty or open spaces,” Unlatch’s Lee Martin said.

“It’s little surprise, therefore, to see the government leaning heavily on these sites for their levelling up plans, but it doesn’t seem that they’ve yet put their plans into action because the amount of available brownfield land has actually increased.

“We have to hope that the government follows through on its pledge to utilise this land and deliver the affordable homes that so many people need. Not only will it deliver much-needed homes, but it will also bring a huge boost to the housing market, and therefore the economy, by hundreds of billions of pounds.”

In the end, however, it will take significant political will to ensure that any homes built are indeed truly “affordable”, with huge volumes of housing needed for social rent, while requiring some new guarantees that such properties are not quickly sold off at massive publicly-funded discounts.

Read more: Brick by Brick abandons its planning consents and 23 sites
Read more: ‘Disgrace’ as £110m of Brick by Brick homes stand empty
Read more: Council slips through £5m deal to buy Brick by Brick houses
Read more: Council sells off public green space to Brick by Brick for just £1
Read more: Council set to take £100m hit as it winds down Brick by Brick
Read more: Conflicts of interest, incomplete contracts, unlawful payments

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