Lords Join Brownfield-First Campaign

The Lords Committee on National Policy for the Built Environment has carried out an inquiry about house building. One of the recommendations contained in their report is for a stronger brownfield policy in England including the reintroduction of brownfield-first at national level.

“The Government has undertaken a range of initiatives to support brownfield development including introducing a £1bn ‘brownfield fund’ to help cover site remediation costs.” says the report.

The report also says “The introduction of permission-in-principle and a brownfield register to identify sites which are suitable for new housing development, as proposed in the Housing and Planning Bill, is intended to expedite the granting of planning permission on brownfield sites. It is, as yet, unclear how matters such as public consultation arrangements and scheme details such as resilience measures will be dealt with through the permission-in-principle route.”