These Hertfordshire sites are NOT the ‘grey belt’
The new government has announced their proposals to overhaul the planning system and build more housing and other development. These changes include a brownfield-first approach to housebuilding – which we support – and building on what they call the ‘grey belt’ – which causes us significant concern.
We welcome the government’s commitment to a brownfield-first approach. We know there are enough shovel-ready brownfield sites for 1.2 million homes across England, including identified sites for more than 20,000 here in Hertfordshire. Most of these sites are close to where people already live, work and go to school. Brownfield sites are the best starting point for housebuilding programmes.
But what is ‘grey belt’?
However, we have significant concerns about the government’s plans regarding the ‘grey belt’. There is no agreed definition of ‘grey belt’. Over the past 8 or 10 months the government has repeatedly said this means land within the designated protected Green Belt that is “poor-quality”, such as “ugly disused land” and they have cited as examples “disused car parks” and a derelict former petrol station.
However, as of 30 July 2024 the government has published a new consultation on their proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework, in which they propose their definition of ‘grey belt’. Their definition is not just “ugly disused land”, disused car parks and former petrol stations. Instead, it is “land in the Green Belt comprising Previously Developed Land and any other parcels and/or areas of Green Belt land that make a limited contribution to the five Green Belt purposes”.
As a reminder, the five Green Belt purposes are:
- to check the unrestricted sprawl of large, built-up areas;
- to prevent neighbouring towns merging into one another;
- to assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment;
- to preserve the setting and special character of historic towns; and
- to assist in urban regeneration, by encouraging the recycling of derelict and other urban land.
The Green Belt is the countryside next door for over half of the population of England
The Green Belt is the countryside next door for 30 million people in towns and cities across the UK, and it’s approximately two-thirds of the land area here in Hertfordshire. It is crucially important for food security, nature recovery, climate change mitigation, and mental and physical wellbeing. We’ll always advocate for recycling previously developed land rather than eating away at the Green Belt.
We fear that the notion of ‘grey belt’ may incentivise those who own land in the Green Belt to let that land become degraded so as to qualify as ‘grey belt’.
And we fear that developers will seize the moment, citing the government’s expansive proposed definition of ‘grey belt’ to push ahead speculative proposals and planning appeals for sites all over the Green Belt that are palpably NOT ‘grey belt’. We are seeing worrying signs.
These sites are NOT the ‘grey belt’
Proposal for ‘hyperscale’ data centre on Green Belt land at Abbots Langley
The government was in power for only a few days when the new Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government announced she was ‘recovering’ the determination of developer Greystoke Land’s planning appeal for a massive 84,000 square metre “hyperscale” data centre in the Green Belt at Abbots Langley in Three Rivers District.
The Council refused permission for this speculative proposal in early 2024 and the developer appealed. We objected to the planning application right from the outset as we believe there are no very special circumstances which would justify the development in this location, and that the proposal constitutes highly inappropriate development of a type which Green Belt legislation was specifically designed to prevent.
And as is apparent in this image of a portion of the proposed data centre site, this is not ‘grey belt’ land.

Proposal for 95 dwellings on land in the Green Belt at Berkhamsted
Just after the general election, developer Crest Nicholson submitted a request for screening opinion to Dacorum Borough Council, regarding their speculative proposal for a 95 dwelling development on land in the Green Belt, west of Blegberry Gardens off Shootersway in Berkhamsted. The site was previously rejected as a proposed site allocation and deleted from the draft Dacorum Local Plan. We are currently awaiting further details of Crest Nicholson’s proposal.
However, as is clear from this image, this site too is not ‘grey belt’.

Proposal for 390 dwellings on land in the Green Belt west of Piccotts End
Also currently pending is developer Fairfax’ speculative proposal for 390 dwellings on a visually prominent hillside in the Green Belt, located just west of Leighton Buzzard Road and the small hamlet of Piccotts End in Dacorum Borough.
The Council refused permission for this speculative proposal in late 2023 and the developer appealed. We had submitted our objection to this inappropriate development proposal at the time of the original planning application in 2021. We argued that there were no very special circumstances, and the proposed development would encroach upon the countryside and cause harm to its openness and character, as well as causing harm to the nearby River Gade, one of England’s precious chalk streams. The proposal would also, together with the so-called ‘Hemel Garden Communities’ proposal, completely engulf the hamlet of Piccotts End.
Fairfax has appealed the Council’s refusal of permission, and we will be participating at the upcoming planning appeal Inquiry as part of the Rule 6 Combined Objectors’ Group. This means we will be full participants, presenting evidence and being cross-examined by the developer’s legal counsel and cross-examining their witnesses, as we continue to fight on behalf of the local community and the countryside.
And once again, as is readily apparent from this photo of the site and the photo at the top of this webpage, this is not ‘grey belt’.

– – –
What will we be doing?
Over the next few weeks CPRE Hertfordshire will be analysing in detail the government’s consultation and proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework. We will be preparing our own consultation response, and we will be contacting Hertfordshire’s MPs with our concerns. We will of course share our analysis and our consultation response as soon as we can. Please follow us on social media and sign up below for our newsletter to keep up to date with our work.
What can you do?
If the loss of Green Belt land to development concerns you, please join us or volunteer with us. We are a small local charity and we rely on membership subscriptions, donations, and a small army of volunteers to carry out our work to protect the countryside for everyone, forever.
