An influential committee has written to the government urging them to consider how they can help SMEs when drawing up guidance and criteria for green belt reviews.
- Identity of grey belt sites lost in wider green belt reviews
- Grey belt sites lose allure for SME developers
- Green belt reviews should focus on helping SMEs
Government urged to review green belt with SME developers in mind
SME builders should be at the forefront when reviewing the green belt, the house of lords’ built environment committee has said.
Committee chair Lord Moylan has written to deputy prime minister Angela Rayner criticising green belt reviews for undermining the ‘grey belt’ policy which could have helped SMEs.
“We recognised both that the smaller size of some grey belt sites would be less economically attractive to larger organisationsand that valuation regimes could support the entry of SMEs.”
However, he said delays in consultation over new valuation regimes and wider green belt reviews had undermined grey belt policy.
“This is likely to result in the loss of the particular identity of grey belt sites, and the factors that might make them more attractive to SMEs, as originally envisaged.”
The committee saw the potential for grey belt policy to expand rural settlements and unlock sites on the boundaries of existing communities.
Brokers Hank Zarihs Associates said development finance lenders saw several advantages of grey belt policy including mitigating local opposition to a scheme.
Small site definition should be raised to 50 homes
Lord Moylan said lack of clarity on how the policy would be measured or monitored meant it couldn’t be implemented or developed in a robustly way.
“Our assessment is that the grey belt policy has been implemented in a somewhat rushed and incoherent manner.”
He added the policy was unlikely to have a significant impact on planning decisions nor contribute to reaching housebuilding targets of 1.5m new homes by 2030.
“We urge the Government to demonstrate a particular regard for SME builders and developers, in drawing up the guidance and criteria for green belt reviews.”
The National Federation of Builders, NFB, wants to see sites where up to 50 homes are planned to be earmarked as small and included in local plans.
NFB policy and market insight head Rico Wojtulewicz said: “This would automatically offer an opportunity for smaller builders and in ten yearsyou might have 1000 more SMEs operating in the sector.”
Currently, sites where less than ten homes are planned are not subject to affordable housing targets although in rural areas this drops to five or below.
LinkedIn Question: How would raising the cap on small sites to 50 homes boost SME developers and housebuilders?
