Labour sets out ‘grey belt’ plan to tackle housing crisis

Labour has laid out its plans to tackle the housing crisis while protecting green spaces by building on what it calls the ‘grey belt’.
The plan would see councils adopting “golden rules” which would prioritise building on poor-quality green belt land – the grey belt – and brownfield sites.
The party has said that it would override local MPs and the current government’s much-maligned planning policy, committing to building 1.5million homes over its premiership if it wins the general election.
The conservative have accused Labour’s policies of ignoring the concerns of local people, with party chairman, Richard Holden, saying: “Only Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives will respect local communities, building the right homes in the right places which has delivered one million homes over this parliament and sticking to the plan to reduce inflation and get mortgage rates down to help first-time buyers.”
Sir Keir Starmer said his party was committed to a “brownfield-first” approach but would loosen planning laws and create a new class of “grey belt” land for low-quality green belt areas.
The party said that the grey belt category would include “poor-quality scrubland, mothballed on the outskirts of town”, and that a minimum of 50% of the housing on these types of sites must be designated as affordable. The party went on to say that it would require developers to improve green space in their plans, while ruling out building on what it called “genuine nature spots”.
Sir Keir Starmer said: “Labour supports brownfield-first policies. But we must be honest, we cannot build the homes Britain needs without also releasing some land currently classed as green belt.”
“We’ll prioritise ugly, disused grey belt land, and set tough new conditions for releasing that land.”
“Our golden rules will also ensure any grey belt development delivers affordable homes, new infrastructure and improved green spaces.”
The co-leader of the Green Party, Carla Denyer, called on Labour to “properly define what acceptable grey belt means”.
She continued: “The Green Belt wasn’t established only to protect nature sites – which is important – but also to prevent urban sprawl.”
Helen Morgan, the housing spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, said: “Britain desperately needs a new planning system, built on community need over developer greed.”
“The Liberal Democrat approach would put communities at the heart of planning decisions, to ensure new houses are genuinely affordable for local people, and more schools, roads and GP surgeries are built.”
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