In November 2024, ET Planning submitted one of the first ever ‘grey-belt’ appeals at Land at South Side of Houndsfield Lane, Hollywood, Worcestershire (appeal reference: APP/P1805/W/24/3356219).
For those who are not familiar with the term ‘grey-belt’, this is a new type of planning ‘lingo’ introduced by the Labour Government in the newly published National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). In short, it seeks to categorise poor quality Green Belt land which does not make a strong contribution to its purposes. The definition can be found here.
The appeal site is situated in Bromsgrove District Council and is related to an outline application for the erection of 50 new dwellings (including market, affordable and custom/ self-build plots) and a flexible commercial/ community use building with associated access, infrastructure, landscaping, drainage and open space provision.
The ‘grey-belt’ case centred around the fact that Bromsgrove District Council can only demonstrate a housing land supply of 3.3 years (against a five-year requirement) and therefore the release of poor quality (i.e. ‘grey-belt’) Green Belt land is required in order to meet their local housing needs.
The appeal site is sustainably located to contribute towards meeting these housing needs and ET Planning undertook a Sustainability Appraisal to assess the locational benefits of the site to support the appeal.
The appeal statement prepared by ET Planning highlighted that the scheme also meets the ‘Golden Rules’, as set out at paragraph 156 of the NPPF. These are:
- Provision of 52% affordable housing;
- Improvements to local infrastructure through footpath and pedestrian crossing improvements; and
- Provision of publicly accessible open space.
ET Planning is continuing to provide comprehensive consultancy advice on this project throughout the appeal process.
Planning consultancy support was provided by David Wetherill and Will Hossack at ET Planning. A Sustainability Statement was provided by Tom Ryan at ET Planning.
ET Planning also provided a Statement of Community Involvement and Affordable Housing Statement at the Application Stage.