Brownfield register pilots named
Seventeen councils in the North West are among 73 across England chosen to pilot new brownfield registers being introduced by government in an attempt to speed up construction of new homes.
Brownfield registers are among several measures in the Housing & Planning Bill to boost housing delivery. ‘Permission in principle’ will be granted for housing-led development sites listed on the new brownfield registers. This is designed to give developers a greater degree of certainty.
Each council will receive £10,000 government funding to help establish their brownfield registers.
Announcing the pilot areas, Communities Secretary Greg Clark reiterated the government’s pledge to build one million homes on brownfield sites and secure planning permission on 90% of suitable brownfield sites for housing.
Three of the local pilot boroughs – Liverpool, Manchester, Wigan – were among 15 chosen automatically due to having the most brownfield land, measured by the National Land Use Database.
A further 36 areas made up of 58 councils – some were joint bids – were selected on a competitive basis. These included:
- Blackpool
- Bolton
- Bury
- Hyndburn
- Oldham
- Pendle
- Preston City
- Rochdale
- Rossendale
- Salford
- South Ribble
- Stockport
- Tameside
- Trafford
