Grey Belt Development: New Labour Government’s Strategic Solution to the UK's Housing Crisis
While we arestill all eagerly anticipating the precise definitions of what makes a site“Grey Belt”, we thought we would do our own investigation into what sort of sites we can expect this policy to include while showing off our brand new Grey Belt Shortcut feature.
What even is Grey Belt?
From the draft of the National Planning Policy Framework it is described as “under used or derelict land that is classified as part of the green belt, but has low environmental or aesthetic value”. Imagine things like car parks, abandoned industrial sites etc. that technically fall under “Green belt” but have been previously developed or left derelict and now therefore make more sense to bere purposed to help address the UK’s housing crisis. There is hope this will be a positive way to counter act the “NIMBY” (Not In My Back Yard) sentiment which is more prevalent when development threatens untouched pockets of Green belt.
How can REalyse help you identify these key areas of opportunity?
While nothing official has been confirmed by Labour yet regarding policy implementation, our team has been hard at work to help you unlock prime development opportunities with just one click. So you can be on the front foot when anything is implemented. Our Grey belt Shortcut instantly provides a report on all Freehold and Lease hold sites that appear as both Brown field and within Green belt.
Taking the below example in Leeds, we can see this visually meets the criteria of a potential grey belt; classified as Green belt of South and West Yorkshire, but already developed as a parking lot (a brownfield site). You can also instantly access all details on site size, coverage and most importantly, ownership. So far, so good.
However, we’re able to take it one step further and understand if there is any associated work already planned for this site, using our “related planning” option. As the below image shows, there’s actually already planning granted on this site. So, not only can you identify potential opportunities, you can quickly refine your findings to those that are relevant and warm leads.
Luckily for us, there’s another potential Grey belt site situated a little further down the samelane. Doing a quick sense check of this site using our google street view integration we can quickly confirm the validity of this site as a potential Grey belt. Not only does it sit on the inter section of Brown field and Green belt, it is aligned with the early definition of having low environmental or aesthetic value. Better yet, as the first image shows - there’s no planning associated with this site.
The above examples are just two of thousands of potential sites scattered across the UK. Whether you are a developer looking to maximise site potential in strategic areas, or an individual looking to seek out high-potential investment areas, the REalyse Grey belt Shortcut button is the key to unlocking any and all of these opportunities and hopefully an environmentally friendly way for Labour to respond to the UK’s housing crisis.
Ready to unlock the hidden potential in your market? Let REalyse guide you in identifying high-impact opportunities with data-driven insights. Start optimising your strategy today by getting in touch with a member of the REalyse team - sales@realyse.com- to schedule a demo.
