The recent election result saw Labour’s Richard Parker become the new Mayor of the West Midlands after he narrowly defeated Conservative incumbent Andy Street. We take an initial look at what this could mean for housebuilding in the region. 

The former Conservative Mayor’s commitments included:

• Protecting the Green Belt
• Cleaning up derelict sites and building on Brownfield Land
• Aiming to build 16,000 new homes every year
• Helping to support the regeneration of council estates and ensuring developers provide more affordable housing

See Andy Street’s Housing Plan’ – March 2024.

In comparison Labour’s Richard Parker’s main housebuilding related commitments include:

• Aiming to ensure that 19,000 new homes are built every year in the region
• The construction of more social and affordable homes (with a focus on social rent)

See Richard Parker’s Manifesto – ‘It’s Time for a Fresh Start.

The above can be considered in conjunction with recent wider Labour Party pledges including:

• A target of 1.5 million homes to be built within the first five years of taking office (Labour press release 11^th October 2023).
• The Labour Party’s five golden rules for housebuilding (Labour press release 19^th April 2024)
  • Brownfield First – within the green belt any brownfield land must be prioritised for development
  • Grey Belt Second – ‘poor quality and ugly areas’ of the green belt should be prioritised over nature rich and valuable land in the green belt
  • Affordable Homes – where green belt is released for development plans must target 50% affordable housing delivery
  • Boost Public Services and Infrastructure – Plans must boost public services and local infrastructure
  • Improve Genuine Green Spaces – Plans to include improvements to existing green spaces

Analysis

While it remains too early to say exactly how the impacts of the recent local election result will be felt across the West Midlands the pledge to increase housing target numbers to 19,000 per year is notable. 

While yet to be formally defined in planning policy or statute the term ‘grey belt’ refers to neglected areas of the green belt such as ‘poor-quality’ wastelands and disused car parks. While Richard Parker did not make any direct reference to the green belt in his manifesto, a push by the West Midlands Combined Authority (for which the Mayor is chair) for the release and development land within the so called ‘grey belt’ would be a logical step in order to achieve the Mayor’s target housing numbers should the Labour Party win the next general election and follow through on their proposals to introduce this new land classification.  

With circa 231,291 hectares of green belt in the region (at least some of which will no doubt be suitable for classification as grey belt), many developers will view the result with a sense of cautious optimism. This is despite industry questions around exactly what the phrase ‘grey belt’ will mean in practice and how development of this land would fit with wider environmental and ecological concerns, including biodiversity net gain.  

Key contact

If you have any queries please contact Duncan Williams in Deloitte Legal's real estate planning team. 

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