- Government formula for calculating housing numbers favours
big housebuilders' profits over community need
- 846,000 potential new homes on brownfield land already have
planning permission but have not yet been built
- Number of brownfield sites has grown each year since 2018,
showing the brownfield-first' policy still lacks real teeth
- NPPF changes, including the 'grey belt' policy, make it
easier for developers to build on greenfield land instead
- Local housing targets should be set by mayors and strategic
authorities
New research from the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE)
shows that there is now enough brownfield land in England for
more than 1.54 million new homes, enough to exceed the
government's entire 1.5 million target.
The findings come days after Housing Secretary admitted there is only a
'slim chance' of the government meeting its 1.5 million homes
pledge. The government should treat this as a chance to rethink
how the target is distributed across the country.
Big housebuilders successfully lobbied the government for a
formula for calculating housing numbers that would maximise their
profits, piling pressure on to rural areas without the people or
infrastructure to justify new development. The result is a slew
of car-dependent executive' homes in the countryside that will do
nothing to address the UK's crisis of housing affordability.
Ministers should instead prioritise the plentiful supply of
previously developed land, much of it close to where people
already live, work and go to school. Homes on these sites could
be delivered without the delays, infrastructure costs and
environmental damage of building on unspoilt countryside.
Much of the brownfield potential identified by CPRE is
concentrated in exactly the areas, including London and the South
East, where demand for new homes is greatest. This undermines the
argument, often made by developers, that the Green Belt and other
countryside must be sacrificed to meet housing need.
CPRE's latest State of Brownfield research has been compiled from
local authority brownfield registers across England, which also
reveal that 846,000 potential new homes on previously developed
land have been granted planning permission but have not yet been
built.
The number of brownfield sites identified as available for
development has grown every year since 2018, when CPRE first
carried out its audit. This shows how, even with an explicit
brownfield-first policy, there are still far too few homes being
built on previously developed sites.
This is unsurprising given changes to the National Planning
Policy Framework, including the introduction of the grey belt'
policy and a presumption in favour of development close to train
stations, that make it easier for developers to build on
greenfield land.
Last week, told the BBC's Sunday with
Laura Kuenssberg that the government was unlikely to hit its
target of 1.5 million new homes by the next election, citing
'headwinds' including the war in Iran and rising construction
costs. Government figures show only around 203,000 homes were
delivered in the year to June 2026, far short of the 300,000
required.
Further CPRE research on the economic benefits of brownfield
development, produced by Pragmatix Advisory and due to be
published ahead of the Budget next month, will demonstrate that
the majority of brownfield sites are viable and can deliver
decent profits to developers.
CPRE is calling on the government to:
- Enforce a genuine brownfield-first policy for new housing,
including by focusing Homes England investment on brownfield
sites and rejecting speculative greenfield development.
- Give mayors and strategic authorities the power to set local
housing targets including for social and brownfield homes.
- Provide targeted investment to unlock brownfield sites that
are not yet commercially viable, rather than defaulting to
countryside release.
- Set ambitious and enforceable targets for affordable and
social homes on shovel-ready brownfield sites.
CPRE chief executive Roger Mortlock said:
introduced a target-setting
formula that prioritises big housebuilders' profits over people
and the environment. Our new research shows that there's more
than enough land to build 1.5 million new homes without
sacrificing yet more countryside in the process.
'The housing crisis is one of affordability, not supply. Building
more detached homes on the Green Belt won't get families out of
bed and breakfast accommodation.
In the spirit of devolution, it's time to hand target-setting to
mayors, asking them to set housing targets based on local need
and demand. They know their own areas and communities, giving
them clear mandates to deliver the social and brownfield homes
their communities actually need.'
The full data can be accessed here: https://www.cpre.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/BFR-Log-2024-2025-web.xlsx
