BPF warns of 'talking at cross-purposes' on greenfield issue

The British Property Foundation (BPF) has said that many discussions regarding the government's plans to build three million new homes over the next 13 years end up being confused by the inaccurate use of terminology and a generalised view of where homes will be built.

The BPF has said that it is crucial that the provision of new homes is based on meeting demand in particular areas rather than meeting the overall target of building 60 per cent on brownfield land.

Furthermore, it is important to remember that all greenfield land is not necessarily part of the green belt, the BPF added.

In that light, the organisation has criticised suggestions made this week by the Social Market Foundation (SMF), which suggested that the green belt would have to be built upon, as saying nothing new.

"The fact is that [the SMF] report tells us nothing we didn't already know. If a quarter of a million houses are to be built each year, it's blindingly obvious that some of these will have to be belt on undeveloped land," commented BPF residential policy director Ian Fletcher.

The SMF had suggested that two million new homes would have to be built on undeveloped or green belt land in order to meet targets.


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