Labour unveils plans for new housing on 'grey belt'

Labour has set out plans for building on the green belt to boost housing supply while improving "green spaces".

Under new "golden rules," councils will be required to prioritise building on brownfield sites and poor-quality areas in the green belt, dubbed "grey belt".

The party has previously pledged to override planning rules and local MPs to build 1.5 million homes - aligning with the Tories' house building target.

The Conservatives said the policies "ignore the concerns" of local people.

Conservative Party Chairman Richard Holden said: "Only Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives will respect local communities building the right homes in the right places which has delivered one million homes over this Parliament and sticking to the plan to reduce inflation and get mortgage rates down to help first-time buyers."

Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer said his party was committed to a "brownfield-first" approach but would loosen planning laws and create a new class of "grey belt" land for low-quality green belt areas.

This new category will include "poor-quality scrubland, mothballed on the outskirts of town" like a disused petrol station in Tottenham currently designated as green belt, Labour said.

At least 50% of housing development on these sites must be considered affordable, Labour said.

The party will also rule out building on "genuine nature spots", requiring developers to include improvements to existing green spaces in their plans

Blaming the Conservatives for creating a "housing emergency" that is "engulfing a generation of hard-working aspirational people", Sir Keir said his party would "get tough on the blockers".

New annual housing supply figures published show the government has been missing its 2019 manifesto pledge to build 300,000 homes a year.

In 2022-23, just over 210,000 new homes were built across the UK - an increase of 5,000 from the previous year.

Sir Keir said: "Labour supports brownfield-first policies. But we must be honest, we cannot build the homes Britain needs without also releasing some land currently classed as green belt.

"We'll prioritise ugly, disused grey belt land, and set tough new conditions for releasing that land.

"Our golden rules will also ensure any grey belt development delivers affordable homes, new infrastructure and improved green spaces."

Last year, the Chair of Natural England wrote in the Guardian newspaper that building on the green belt "should be part of the UK's answer to the housing crisis".

Liberal Democrat housing spokesperson Helen Morgan said: "Britain desperately needs a new planning system, built on community need over developer greed.

"The Liberal Democrat approach would put communities at the heart of planning decisions, to ensure new houses are genuinely affordable for local people, and more schools, roads and GP surgeries are built."

Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer said Labour "needs to properly define what acceptable grey belt means".

She added: "The Green Belt wasn't established only to protect nature sites - which is important - but also to prevent urban sprawl."

Developers would also "drive a coach and horses through any approach that is not absolutely clear," she said.