Include commercial in brownfield planning proposals, urges BPF

The British Property Federation is calling on government to go further than its proposed “presumption in favour” of new homes on brownfield sites to include commercial and mixed-use development in order to create sustainable communities and support economic growth. The BPF put forward its case as part of the Department for Levelling Up, Homes & Communities’ consultation on measures it said would “turbocharge” home building on brownfield sites while protecting the green belt “under a major shake-up to planning rules”.  That consultation – entitled “Strengthening planning policy for brownfield development” – closed last night. It followed the announcement by secretary of state Michael Gove on 13 February “that every council in England will be told that they will need to prioritise brownfield developments and instructed to be less bureaucratic and more flexible in applying policies that halt housebuilding on brownfield land”.  Gove said the “bar for refusing brownfield plans will also be made much higher for those big city councils who are failing to hit their locally agreed housebuilding targets”. Under the proposals, planning authorities in England’s 20 largest cities and towns will be made to follow a “brownfield presumption”, if housebuilding drops below expected levels. Gove said the shift would make it easier to get permission to build on previously developed brownfield sites. Sam Bensted, assistant director for planning and development at the BPF, said: “We fully support the government’s move to increase housebuilding on brownfield sites and the introduction of a ‘presumption in favour’ of development aligns with the BPF’s call in our general election manifesto for a separate planning category to unlock complex urban regeneration projects. “Whilst the proposals are a good start, government should go further still and extend the presumption in favour to commercial and mixed-use development. This would enable homes, jobs and vital infrastructure to be delivered side-by-side on urban sites, creating sustainable communities and supporting economic growth. The policy should be adopted more widely for urban areas across the UK – beyond the 20 towns and cities identified – to further support urban regeneration and growth in all appropriate locations.”