Social Market Foundation: 2m homes will need greenfield land
10:43 15 Aug 2007
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Two million homes will have to be built on greenfield land if the government wants to meet its target of building three million homes by 2020 - that's the assessment from a study from think-tank Social Market Foundation (SMF), launched today.
The SMF said the homes would have to be built on undeveloped countryside or green belt land.
The government pledged that it would continue to protect green belt land after it published its housing targets, planning instead to put 60% of the new homes on brownfield sites.
But the SMF report said that even if homes were built to a density equivalent of London, brownfield land could only accommodate 2.1m dwellings.
"It will not be possible, even if those living in towns and cities accept the loss of their gardens and parks, to meet the UK's housing needs through previously-developed land alone," the study said.
In a response to the study, British Property Federation (BPF) residential property director Ian Fletcher contended that it did not say anything new.
"While a mature debate on this issue is welcome, often people end up talking at cross-purposes. The government's target of 60% development on brownfield land needs to be put into context of the area being talked about. For England, it is being met and exceeded, but for some areas or cities experiencing strong growth will be challenging. We therefore need to look at where in the country the new homes are actually needed," he said.
"The question is how to find an efficient and sustainable solution to developing our housing needs over the next ten years and beyond, and where the required investment is going to come from," he added.