Brownfield land registers and how a site gets on one

Every local planning authority in England has to keep a brownfield land register, and a brownfield land register entry can do two quite different things depending on which part of the register it sits in. Part 1 is a published list of previously developed land the authority considers suitable for housing. Part 2 is much rarer and much more valuable, because an entry in Part 2 grants permission in principle for housing development on that land.

For a self-builder or a small developer, the register is worth ten minutes of research before any site is bought.

What the two parts do

The registers were introduced by the Housing and Planning Act 2016 and the regulations made under it, with the aim of making brownfield land visible and speeding up the route to permission.

Part 1 contains all the brownfield land the authority has assessed as appropriate for residential development. Inclusion carries no grant of permission. It is a statement that the authority considers the site suitable, available and achievable for housing, and that statement has weight in a later application and in a negotiation with a landowner.

Part 2 contains the sites the authority has decided to allocate for permission in principle. Entry grants permission in principle for the use, the location and the amount of development stated. The developer then applies for technical details consent to deal with everything else.

Most authorities populate Part 1 and leave Part 2 empty, because the procedural requirements for Part 2 are demanding.

The criteria for inclusion

Land qualifies for Part 1 where the authority is satisfied it meets the tests in the regulations. In outline, the site must be previously developed land, of at least a stated minimum size or capable of accommodating a stated minimum number of dwellings, and it must be suitable, available and achievable for residential development.

Each of those words does work:

• Suitable means allocated in the plan, or having permission, or appropriate for residential development having regard to the development plan and any other relevant considerations.
• Available means the owner has expressed an intention to sell or develop, and there is no impediment to that.
• Achievable means development is likely within 15 years.

Previously developed land carries its national policy definition, which excludes land that was last occupied by agricultural or forestry buildings, land in built-up areas such as residential gardens, parks and allotments, and land where the remains of permanent structures have blended into the landscape.

That last exclusion catches more sites than people expect. A former quarry that has grassed over, or a wartime airfield reduced to concrete fragments in a field, will often fail the test.

Size is the other filter that surprises people. The thresholds are set so that the register captures sites capable of delivering a meaningful number of homes, which means a single plot behind a house will not qualify however obviously brownfield it is. That does not stop it being developable. It just means the register is the wrong route, and an ordinary application is the right one.

Asking for a site to be considered

There is no statutory application form. Authorities publish their own route, usually a call for sites alongside the annual register review or a standing form on the planning policy pages.

A submission that gets taken seriously contains:

1. A red line plan and the site area in hectares.
2. Evidence of ownership and a statement of intention to develop or sell.
3. An assessment of constraints, including flood zone, designations, access and any known contamination.
4. An indicative capacity, with a sketch layout if one exists.
5. A note on deliverability, covering ownership, services and any legal impediments.

Registers are reviewed at least annually, so the timing of a submission matters. Miss the review window and the site waits a year.

Publicity before a Part 2 entry

Entering a site in Part 2 is not an administrative step. The authority has to publicise the proposed entry, consult specified bodies and the public, consider representations, and satisfy itself on environmental impact assessment and habitats matters before the entry can be made.

That process is why Part 2 is thinly used. It carries much of the cost of determining an application without the fee income, and an authority with limited policy resource will reasonably prioritise its local plan instead.

Where an authority is willing, the approach that works is to do the work for them. Offer the screening information, the constraints analysis and the draft publicity material, and be clear about what the entry would say.

Ask before you invest in it. A planning policy officer will tell you in one email whether the authority has any appetite for Part 2 entries, and the answer in most districts is no. Knowing that early saves the cost of preparing material nobody will use.

What an entry in Part 2 grants

Permission in principle settles three things and nothing else: the location, the use, and the amount of development expressed as a minimum and maximum number of dwellings. Everything else, including layout, scale, appearance, access, drainage, ecology and contamination, is dealt with in the technical details consent application.

Two timing points matter. Permission in principle granted through a register entry has its own duration, which differs from permission in principle granted on application, and the technical details consent has to be applied for within that period. The consent, once granted, is the operative permission.

Brownfield sites usually carry ground contamination questions, so budget for investigation and a contaminated land assessment at technical details stage. Contamination work on land affected by previous industrial use must be carried out by suitably qualified and experienced people, and a draft report is a starting point for that specialist rather than a substitute.

Removal, review and using an entry

Sites leave the register. An authority may remove land where it no longer meets the criteria, where permission has been implemented, or where new information changes the assessment. Check the current published version rather than a copy downloaded last year, and note that the registers are published as structured data as well as on council websites.

An entry is useful commercially. A Part 1 entry is the authority's own written view that the land is suitable for housing, which is a different thing from an agent's opinion, and it is worth quoting in the planning statement supporting any later application. A Part 2 entry is a grant of permission in principle, and it changes the value of the land accordingly.

Keep an eye on how the regime develops, because permission in principle and the registers have been reviewed more than once since 2017. The planning law timeline is the place to follow changes of that kind.

Before buying, work out what the technical details application will need: enter your postcode on PlanScope to see the likely document list.

PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval. This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.