Victoria Hills, Chief Executive of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) has given evidence on the implications of the proposed "Grey Belt" land designation at the House of Lords Built Environment Committee.
The inquiry focuses on understanding how the Grey Belt land would contribute to housing targets, and what would constitutes sustainable development on grey belt land.
Appearing before Lords alongside Dr Hugh Ellis, Policy Director, Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA), Hills warned that the grey belt could lead to an increase in court appeals and the approval of housing developments in areas that are not sustainable.
"If you are going to look into releasing land there is a fundamental question, which is 'Is it in a sustainable location?' We don't think [the grey belt] goes far enough in explaining this," said Hills.
Hills continued said that, while the technical meaning of “green belt” was clear, it wasn’t clearly defined in public discussion of housebuilding. Hills stressed that, for grey belt land to be released for development, there would need to be a better definition.
You can read more about the ‘grey belt’ proposals from Daniel Slade, Head of Practice and Research at the RTPI in his piece Is the introduction of the ‘grey belt’ a good thing?
To understand more about the ‘green belt’ RTPI’s Planning and Policy Advisor Claire Stafford’s piece, What actually is the green belt?
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