Green belt ‘swaps’ will allow house-building
MINISTERS will next month publicly back building thousands of houses on green belt land despite a growing Tory rebellion and concerns from environmental campaigners.
understands that the Government will encourage the use of “green belt swaps” in a White Paper to help solve the housing crisis.
The scheme allows councils to remove protections on one part of green belt in return for creating a new area of protected land elsewhere. Critics says the change could transform Britain’s countryside by allowing thousands of homes to be built on protected land and watering down the original definition of green belt.
Ministers believe the swaps are a sensitive way of protecting rural land while giving councils the powers to hit ambitious housing targets.
Sajid Javid, the Local Government Secretary, indicated his support in a speech this week as he called on MPs not to oppose building on green belt outright.
He said the Westminster politicians “should not stand in the way” of councils who propose green belt development, providing “all the options” have been considered.
Green belt swaps allow a council to suggest some protected land is freed up for development, often to help meet demand in the housing market.
In return, a separate area of land is proposed for new protections, meaning the total amount of green belt land does not fall.
The rules already exist but often fail to work in practice, with planning bodies rejecting proposals because the new land fails to meet the definition of green belt. Industry sources have said that a White Paper on housing to be published next month will include measures to encourage the use of such swaps.
Tories hope it will help hit their ambitious housing target – building a million homes by 2020 – while living up to a pledge to protect the green belt.
There is a belief that the demand for housing has grown so severe in parts of the country it should count as an “exceptional circumstance”, giving councils more freedom to act.
Experts say one option would be encouraging the planning inspectorate to approve more swaps. The body often rejects proposals because the new area of land fails to hit the “five purposes” of green belt, including stopping urban sprawl.
George Osborne, the former chancellor, repeatedly tried to encourage councils to swap new areas of green belt for land taken out for development, but had little success.
Mr Javid, the cabinet minister in charge of housing policy, indicated his support for the move at a speech on Thursday.
“Where local councils come forward with sensible, robust local plans, I will back them all the way,” he said. Our item “Aristocrat sues trustee over house pop star tenant left in a shambles” (Oct 30) wrongly implied that a dispute between Lord Cardigan and his trustees over the rentable value of a property on the Savernake estate lead to it remaining unlet. In fact, the dispute was not connected with this delay. We are happy to make this clear.