Brownfield Land Register

The Town and Country Planning (Brownfield Land Register) Regulations 2017 and the Town and Country Planning (Permission in Principle) Order 2017 require local authorities to prepare and maintain registers of brownfield land that is suitable for residential development. The Order provides that sites entered on Part 2 of the new brownfield registers will be granted permission in principle.

Local authorities will be required to include a consistent set of information in their registers. The information to be included is set out in schedule 2 of the Town and Country Planning (Brownfield Land Register) Regulations 2017.

The regulations set a process for identifying suitable sites, including the requirements for keeping a register and the criteria for assessing sites. (The regulations also set out the requirements for publicity and consultation where an authority proposes to enter sites on Part 2 of the register.) There is a duty on local planning authorities to have regard to the development plan, national policy and advice and guidance when exercising their functions under the brownfield register regulations.

Part 1 of the brownfield registers will be a comprehensive list of all brownfield sites in a local authority area that are suitable for housing, irrespective of their planning status. However registers will also be a vehicle for granting permission in principle for suitable sites where authorities have followed the relevant procedures. If the authority considers that permission in principle should be granted for a site the local authority is required to enter that site in Part 2 of their register. Part 2 is therefore a subset of Part 1 and will include only those sites for which have permission in principle has been granted.

Putting a site on Part 1 of a register does not mean it will automatically be granted permission in principle. Local planning authorities will be able to enter sites on Part 2 of the register which will trigger a grant of permission in principle for those sites suitable for housing-led development only after they have followed the consultation and publicity requirements, and other procedures set out in the regulations and they remain of the opinion that permission in principle should be granted. Those sites which have permission in principle for housing-led development will be clearly identified by being in Part 2 of the register.