Housebuilding around train stations to be given default green light
Planning proposals for homes around train stations will be given an automatic green light in the latest Government drive to speed up housebuilding.
Housebuilders will be encouraged to build more homes within a 15-minute walk of transport links, and councils in England will also now be required to tell the government when they intend to reject new housing developments over a certain size.
The Housing Secretary Steve Reed will have the final say on whether developments should go ahead.
“This is about action: spades in the ground, breathing new life into communities, and families finally getting the homes they need,” Reed said.
Green belt overhaul
The default “yes” will apply equally across all local authorities – including green belt areas – and include minimum housing density standards for these sites.
While Labour has pledged to deliver 1.5m homes by 2029, its agenda has taken much longer than expected to get off the ground, with construction shrinking for the tenth month in a row in October.
Just 231,300 new homes have been built between last year’s election and September this year.
Sam Richards, chief executive of pro-growth campaign group Britain Remade, said plans for a default yes to developments on “underused” sites near train stations was “a no-brainer”.
“For years, the planning system has blocked new homes in exactly the places people most want to live. Building in well-connected areas means shorter commutes, stronger city and town centres, and more young people finally able to afford a home,” Richards said.
The Railway Industry Association (RIA), which represents suppliers to the sector, has called stations an “untapped resource… the railway is the economic backbone of the United Kingdom.”
Russell Curtis, director of architect RCKa, has estimated that 1.2m new homes could be built within a 10-minute walk of 777 rural stations at the cost of 15,750 hectares of green belt – less than 1 per cent of the total.
While are there are some issues with building near railways – like noise, disruption and distance to local amenities – Russel Curtis called it an “obvious thing to promote”.