Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the feasibility of the use of brownfield sites as potential locations to build new homes.

The National Planning Policy Framework expects local authorities to give substantial weight to the value of using suitable brownfield land within settlements for new homes and other uses. We ask them to prioritise brownfield wherever practicable, and have provided support in the form of loan funding for site preparation, infrastructure and land assembly; new permitted development rights to put existing buildings to good use as dwellings; and the redevelopment of brownfield sites in Green Belt to allow more affordable homes. Every local authority has published a register of brownfield land suitable for new homes, bringing thousands of hectares of developable land to the attention of house-builders and self-builders.

Local authorities are also beginning to receive proposals regarding Permission in Principle for housing-led developments on land in brownfield registers. Brownfield sufficient for many hundreds of thousands of new homes is likely to be identified by local authorities, and it is they who must plan how and when to use available, viable and sustainable sites for the housing we so badly need.