Brownfield update: space for 26,779 homes on recycled land in Hertfordshire

Once again, we’ve done our annual compilation of the latest brownfield data for Hertfordshire’s ten districts and boroughs. According to each Council’s Brownfield Land Register, i.e. the Councils’ own data, there is currently enough previously developed land available for a minimum of 26,779 new homes, of which more than 11,000 already have planning permission.

Here at CPRE Hertfordshire we care deeply about brownfield, or previously developed, land. If more new housing can be provided through regeneration or redevelopment, then more of the countryside can remain available for nature and wildlife, for growing crops, and for giving all of us the access to green space that we need for our health and well-being.

Brownfield and empty homes – a massive opportunity

It is significant that our Hertfordshire local authorities have identified enough brownfield land for 26,779 new homes. What’s more, these figures:

• are only the minimum net number of new dwellings and on some sites more new dwellings are possible; and
• only reflect sites where the landowner has come forward.

Also, these brownfield figures do not include the 5,057 long term empty homes all across Hertfordshire that could and should be brought back into occupancy.

So the actual opportunity is for well over 30,000 new homes for local people, just by redeveloping brownfield land and bringing empty homes back into occupancy.

Hertfordshire brownfield data

When Councils put out a call for brownfield sites, time and time again, more landowners come forward and more sites are identified that are available and suitable for redevelopment. So we are calling on those Hertfordshire local authorities that have not recently updated their Brownfield Land Registers to do so. (This is important not only for identifying additional sites for redevelopment, but also for removing sites that have been successfully re-built and delivered).

Finally, we continue to call on all Hertfordshire local authorities to ensure that identified brownfield sites are redeveloped, with the right homes for local people’s needs, before building on green fields and in the countryside.

Read more about brownfield

To learn more about brownfield, read CPRE’s report State of Brownfield 2025 with in-depth research across the whole of England. Our research found that over 1.4 million homes could be built on 30,000 hectares of previously developed land, and that 770,000 of these new dwellings already have planning permission but have not been built.

So both locally in Hertfordshire and nationally across England, there continues to be massive unrealised opportunity to develop new housing on brownfield land.

Help us support brownfield development and save green fields

Want to help us keep the pressure on councils and the government to utilise brownfield?  Please join us, or make a one-off or regular donation. And please sign up below for our newsletter, to keep up to date with all of our work. Your support is greatly appreciated and can make a real difference.

If you’d like to get involved in a more practical way, take a look at our Brownfield toolkit.  The toolkit is designed to help you tell your local council about vacant sites. It’s an easy way to help make sure suitable land is constantly being added to Brownfield Land Registers. Why not see what wasted spaces could be regenerated in your area?