Grey belt land in councils short of housing

Green belt land next to a town or village, in a council where delivery is under 75%, or the plan is over five years old and too few homes are added. Both tests national policy sets for grey belt development are on each site.

19,425 sites fit this search today

Imagery: Mapbox and Maxar. Boundaries: HM Land Registry INSPIRE, Crown copyright.

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What the search looks for

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  1. Green belt next to a town or village
  2. Outside national parks
  3. In a council where delivery is under 75%, or the plan is over five years old and fewer homes are added a year than needed
CookhamWindsor and Maidenhead Site size2.58 ha (6.4 acres)In the green belt100%Housing Delivery Test74%Local plan age4.7 yearsHomes added a year487Homes needed a year1,449 Open this site on the map

On every site

The council's housing position
The Housing Delivery Test result, the age of the local plan, and homes added a year against the number the council needs.
Constraints, measured on the site
The share of the site in the green belt, each flood zone, a conservation area and the other mapped constraints, each from its named source.
Planning on and around it
Ten years of planning applications on the parcel, and homes approved nearby in the last five years.

Why these rules

Grey belt is green belt land that does not strongly contribute to purposes (a), (b) or (d) of the green belt: checking sprawl, keeping towns apart and the setting of historic towns (NPPF, August 2026, glossary and GB2). Whether land is grey belt needs the council's assessment against those purposes (Annex E); Plota finds the candidates. Grey belt development also needs an evidenced unmet need (GB7(g)).

National policy (NPPF, August 2026, S5(1)(j) and Annex D): development outside settlements can meet an evidenced unmet need for homes, which is deemed to exist where the latest Housing Delivery Test is under 75%; where a plan is over five years old its supply is measured against local housing need (Annex D 8).

Plota counts a council as short where delivery is under 75%, or its plan is over five years old and it adds fewer homes a year than that need; a plan's age alone is not enough.

National parks and the Broads are left out: national policy refuses major development there other than in exceptional circumstances and limits the scale of the rest (NPPF, August 2026, N4); set National park to Any under Constraints to include them. Woodland is left out.

Sites from the search

Six of the sites the search returned on 10 November 2026. Each opens on the map with its record.

Imagery: Mapbox and Maxar. Boundaries: HM Land Registry INSPIRE, Crown copyright.

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