It has been a year and a half since the new Labour government took office and announced sweeping changes to the planning system. With huge increases in housing targets, reforms to plan-making, the promise of up to 12 new towns, and an overhaul of Green Belt policy, it seemed we were on the precipice of a development boom.
Yet sentiment has shifted dramatically, from optimism to stagnation. Ask any developer today, whether in residential or renewables, and their verdict on Labour’s first eighteen months would likely be bleak.
The potential silver lining? Greybelt policy. Widely supported within the development industry, it promised to unlock lower-quality greenbelt land for housing delivery. Eighteen months on, we will look to answer the critical questions: Is greybelt policy actually working? Are developers using it? And crucially—where?
Using our planning data, we’ve analysed every significant planning application submitted in greenbelt areas since the policy was introduced. We’ve mapped all 1,450 applications across England, identified which ones explicitly argued greybelt status, and tracked their approval rates against greenbelt strength classifications. Our findings reveal surprising patterns about how the policy is playing out on the ground—and expose a significant gap between policy intent and market reality.
View the full report to uncover the surprising trends behind greybelt development, discover which regions are leading the charge, and see how developers are actually leveraging this new policy in real-world applications.