Brownfield land register

Brownfield Land Register 2023

The Town and Country Planning (Brownfield Land Register) Regulations 2017 came into force on 16 April 2017 and require Councils to prepare, maintain and publish registers of previously developed (brownfield) land they consider to be appropriate for housing development.

What is brownfield land?

'Brownfield Land' (previously developed land) is defined in Annex 2 of the National Planning Policy Framework (2023) as:

“Land which is or was occupied by a permanent structure, including the curtilage of the developed land (although it should not be assumed that the whole of the curtilage should be developed) and any associated fixed surface infrastructure. This excludes: land that is or was last occupied by agricultural or forestry buildings; land that has been developed for minerals extraction or waste disposal by landfill, where provision for restoration has been made through development management procedures; land in built-up areas such as residential gardens, parks, recreation grounds and allotments; and land that was previously developed but where the remains of the permanent structure or fixed surface structure have blended into the landscape”.

The regulations set out the criteria with regard to suitability, availability and achievability that sites have to comply with, in the opinion of the local planning authority, in order to be included in the register. They also set a site size threshold for inclusion of 0.25 hectares or being capable of supporting at least 5 dwellings.

The register is to be kept in two parts:

Part one of the register will be for sites categorised as previously developed land which are suitable, available and achievable for residential development
Part two of the register, if prepared, would allow selected sites from Part 1 to be granted permission in principle (PiP) for housing-led development following public consultation. PiP would establish the fundamental principles of development in terms of the use, location and amount of development. However, planning permission would not be granted until Technical Details Consent is applied for and approved by the Council.

We have prepared our Brownfield Land Register (BLR) Part 1 2023 and this is available to be viewed or downloaded as a CSV file https://www.wakefield.gov.uk/media/s5xn11pf/wakefield-brownfield-register.csv or a user-friendly PDF version.

The register can also be viewed on an interactive map. (Due to technical difficulties, the map will be updated in due course. In the meantime, users can find accurate locations through links in the register and the provided address.)

The BLR will be maintained and reviewed at least once a year to make sure that it is kept up to date.

It is important to note that the publication of sites on the part 1 register does not grant permission in principle for housing. Planning applications on these sites will be considered on their merits in accordance with the local plan, national policy and any other material considerations.

The Brownfield Register is published under the Open Government Licence.