Councils and public bodies in England are to be handed powers to compulsorily buy cheap green belt land as part of the new Labour government’s drive to build 1.5m homes by 2030.
Green belt landowners who are unwilling to sell would face compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) that would force them to hand over their land if the site could host a “quality housing scheme” in the public interest.
Under the rules, which are being consulted on, these landowners could be forced to sell at a benchmark value that the government has said will provide “fair but not excessive return” for the landowner, as well as “maximising community benefits”.
The proposals come two weeks after the deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, set out wide-reaching planning and housing policy reforms aimed at accelerating housebuilding.
These include the introduction of new mandatory housing targets for councils under which authorities would have to identify enough land in their local plans to meet housing need.
In some areas this would result in significant increases in the number of new homes required, such as the north-west of England whose target rose from 21,500 to just under 38,000 homes, while the east of England’s target increased from 35,000 to nearly 45,000.
The changes also included a call for councils to review green belt areas for development if needed to meet housing targets. The government said it wanted to take a “more strategic approach to [green belt] land designation”.
The green belt was introduced nationwide in 1947 under the Town and Country Planning Act to prevent urban sprawl and protect areas on the edge of towns and cities from development. It covers 6,300 sq miles, about 13% of England’s area.
There are fears that landowners who were previously holding green belt land that had no development value before the changes could now attempt to cash in.
To address this, ministers are putting forward changes to compensation rules, first reported by the Times, which will “remove inflated values of land based on the prospect of planning permission” and ensure schemes that are in the public interest can progress.
If a price cannot be agreed, the government is considering giving powers to allow local authorities and Homes England, the government’s housing delivery agency, to “take a proactive role in the assembly of the land supported where necessary by compulsory purchase powers”.
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Some planning and housing experts have said Labour will only be able to hit its goal of building 1.5m homes by 2030 if more homes are built on green belt land.
The government has admitted that building on brownfield land – areas that were previously developed but have fallen into disuse – will not solve the housing crisis on its own, and councils should identify green belt opportunities to help meet their housing targets.
It has said brownfield and grey-belt land, such as wasteland or car parks, will be prioritised, and any development on green belt land would require 50% of homes to be classed as affordable.
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “We will reform the outdated compulsory purchase process to remove inflated values of land and ensure compensation paid to landowners is fair but not excessive.
“This is part of our plan to get Britain building again and deliver the homes the country desperately needs.”
