Will Brownfield Passports Unlock Brownfield Development?
Government issued “Brownfield Passport: Making the Most of Urban Land” on 27 September, a paper containing several proposals and inviting views on how the planning system can support the development of brownfield land in urban areas.
A “passport” sounds exciting – surely with a passport in place, there is a pass for development proceed? Actually no. The passport will not equate to “automatic planning permission on suitable brownfield sites”.
The proposals in the paper are:
Explicit policy that development on brownfield land in urban areas is acceptable unless exclusions apply;
National policy to set minimum expectations, for example on density or building height, for certain types of location;
Using design codes and guides to identify opportunities and provide clarity of acceptable development; and
Area wide permissions combining the minimum expectations and design codes and guides with the existing ability to create a Local Development Order, LDO. This option sounds like a passport! An LDO does give upfront planning permission for specified development within a particular area.
The aim of the proposals is to make the default answer to brownfield development yes. The paper also wonders whether the approach should be extended to apply to non-brownfield land within urban areas subject to safe guards for land that should be kept open or has important environmental benefits.
The brownfield first approach has been around for a long time and is widely appreciated to make sense. Additional policy support is welcomed, but the problems are complex beyond policy – site assembly, constrained sites, remediation etc etc. The paper itself notes:
“Planning is of course only part of the picture when it comes to brownfield development – viability and remediation play key roles in determining whether a site can be taken forward”.
Policy change in isolation is unlikely to unlock the boom in urban brownfield development sought.
Posted on 10/01/2024 by Ortolan
