Grey Belt in Hampton in Arden Parish

Some time ago the Government created the concept of “grey belt” within Green Belt.The main objective is to unlock lower-quality, ugly, or previously the developed land trapped inside protected Green Belt areas for new housing development without harming actual countryside beauty.

 

Definition: Land within the Green Belt that is already developed or plays a weak role in checking sprawl, preventing towns from merging, or protecting historic settings.

 

Schemes on grey belt land face strict requirements, including high-level commitments to local infrastructure and mandatory affordable housing provisions. Being identified as grey belt does not mean that development is unrestricted or guaranteed.

 

Even if a site is identified as Grey Belt it remains part of Green Belt, and any proposed development must still comply with strict planning requirements.

 

Some time ago SMBC commissioned Arup to undertake a new Green Belt Assessment of the Borough. They are likely to give a considerable amount of weight to this assessment when considering housing development applications.

 

It was published in July and a link to it is included here:-

 

 

This assessment identified potential grey belt in the Borough. From this document we have prepared a diagram of land within the Parish that has been identified as such and this is shown.