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Watch brownfield seminar

David Mairs
By David Mairs
22nd May 2021

Brownfield land came under the spotlight during the most recent County Branch Forum talk, held via Zoom on Friday 23 April.

For many years, CPRE, the countryside charity, has been campaigning that brownfield land is an important resource for homes in urban areas. According to research, there is enough brownfield for one million homes. Yet, because developers can make a greater profit, they are more interested in greenfield land.

Recently, the Prime Minister has stated that his government is intent on using brownfield in preference to greenfield. But, so far, there is little evidence that Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) are making the research for brownfield a high priority.

Two CPRE branches have taken the initiative to research brownfield land in their areas and have unearthed some astonishing facts that they are prepared to share with the whole of CPRE. An example in London highlights one LPA that claimed enough land for just 2,700 homes, while researchers unearthed, using local information, enough land for tens of thousands more homes.

This is an important area for CPRE if we are to protect greenfield land.

Friday’s speakers were CPRE London’s Alice Roberts, who was instrumental in the capital research, and Jackie Copley, from Lancashire, who has designed a kit to help in brownfield analysis.