A study which considers the availability of brownfield land against the five-year housing demand has shown that greenfield sites must be developed if housing targets are to be met.
The “Brownfield: The Housing Crisis Solved?” study reviewed the 73 local authority areas that are piloting the brownfield registers. The pilot areas have shown the ability to deliver approximately 200,000 homes on brownfield land, but this is against a five-year need of 275,000 homes and a need of 550,000 homes over the next ten years.
The study identifies that many of the brownfield sites are small in size and can only provide in the region of 15 dwellings, the collapse of many smaller developers during the financial problems from 2008 means that the prospect of many of these sites coming forward for development is slim.
The report therefore concludes that greenfield sites which can deliver higher densities and a significant quantum of development will need to come forward if the country is to deliver enough homes to meet demand.
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