Amberfield: New land classification is answer to UK housing crisis
09-17-2014
The UK’s housing crisis could be resolved quickly if the government added a new land classification to green and brownfield sites, a new report claims.
The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is calling on ministers to sign up to its proposal for Amberfield, which aims to create a pipeline of “ready to go land” for developers to build on within five years. Local councils and communities should work together to designate between 30 and 50 per cent of vacant land as amberfield to solve the housing shortage quickly, the group suggests.
The aim of the new classification is to break the deadlock between developers and communities, where projects are often stalled.
“The planning system needs to be responsive to the needs of customers and increased confidence is needed in which sites can be taken forward,” Jeremy Blackburn, RICS head of policy said.
“We would suggest a quota of 50 per cent amberfield for most local authorities as it would enable them to deliver the appropriate housing stock required,” he added. A spokesman for the department for communities and local government said ministers had simplified the planning system.