How Conservative Policies Broke the Planning System – and Threaten Our Green Belt

Over the past decade, Conservative governments have made repeated changes to the national planning system. These policies have created a broken, unbalanced system that now threatens areas residents value most – including our green belt land.

The core of the problem is simple: the Conservatives set ambitious national housebuilding targets without giving local councils the real power or resources to deliver them properly. Instead of a plan-led system that balances housing need with local priorities, we ended up with a system that gives developers the upper hand. Councils are often forced to approve large developments or face losing costly appeals. Communities are left feeling ignored, while developers cherry-pick the most profitable sites – often greenfield and green belt land – instead of regenerating towns and using brownfield sites first.

Some of the key changes that caused this crisis:

• The 5-Year Housing Land Supply Rule: Councils must prove they have enough deliverable housing sites for five years ahead. If they can’t, planning policies are considered “out of date” and developers can target protected land. This rule has been weaponised by developers and undermines local plans.

• Presumption in Favour of Development: When targets aren’t met, councils lose control. The system automatically favours development – even on sites the council and residents have already rejected.

• Unrealistic Housing Targets: The Government uses a top-down formula to calculate housing need, often ignoring local realities. In many areas, including ours, the numbers demanded are far higher than local infrastructure and services can realistically support.

• Underfunding Councils: Planning departments have been hollowed out by funding cuts, leaving councils with fewer staff and resources to defend local plans and fight bad developments.

As a result of these policies, the demand for housing now greatly exceeds what can be delivered through sensible, sustainable development. Brownfield land alone cannot meet these inflated targets. Developers argue the only way to meet the numbers is to build on green belt land – land that was supposed to be permanently protected.

We are already seeing the effects locally. Large greenfield sites are being promoted for housing, sometimes with little regard for public services, road capacity, or environmental impact. Meanwhile, town centre regeneration projects often move slowly because they are less profitable for developers than building new estates on open land.

The Conservatives promised to “protect the green belt.” In reality, their policies tore holes in it.

There is a better way. Local communities should be given the real power to plan for the homes they genuinely need, in the right places, with the right infrastructure. Councils need the freedom to prioritise brownfield sites and town centre regeneration without being punished by rigid targets and developer appeals.

Protecting our green spaces and building the right homes should not be in conflict. But Conservative planning policies made it so and since Labours changes in December 2024 to the NPPF, this problems have been compounded. Unless the system is fixed, the pressure to build on our precious green belt will only increase.

It’s time for a planning system that puts local people, not developers, back in charge.