'Opportunistic grab!': Burnham urged to scrap 'ridiculous' grey-belt developments
Despite the land previously being classified as green belt, under new rules brought in by the Labour government in 2024 it has now been deemed as 'grey belt'
As a herd of cows graze across a green field on the outskirts of Bradford, local residents are left scratching their heads.
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“There’s plans to build around 85 to 100 houses here,” Carol Atkinson, who lives in the village of Wilsden tells me.
“We consider this to be greenfield. Unfortunately, it’s now considered to be 'grey belt' which I think just gives free rein for houses to be built on greenfield sites.”
Despite the land previously being classified as green belt, under new rules brought in by the Labour government in 2024, it has now been deemed as ‘grey belt.’
More than 1.6million hectares of land were designated as green belt as of March 2025. The government says they don’t have figures that show how much has been re-designated as grey belt.
But since the change came in, 13 housing developments totalling 1,250 new homes have been approved on grey belt land.
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The idea behind new definition was so things like disused petrol stations or abandoned buildings that were technically in green belt land and therefore protected could be used for development.
But earlier this year, Bradford Council’s planning committee accepted a proposal for homes to be built on the land, with officers arguing it met the ‘golden rules.’
Documents state that this land was ‘low performing’ as green belt and cited that Bradford has a substantial housing shortfall.
Cath Bacon lives in the village and is a former Green Councillor. “This is prime agricultural land.” She told LBC, “Unfortunately in the late 2010s, the Conservative government started to relax the rules around the green belt.
“But what’s really decimated it is the disastrous new regulation about grey belt. I’ve lobbied the former Housing Secretary Steve Reed, the current Secretary of State Angela Rayner, our local MP Anna Dixon and now Andy Burnham to say that the grey belt legislation is not fit for purpose.”
The move was as part of the government’s aim to build 1.5million new homes by the next election, but Angela Rayner recently admitted there was only a “slim chance” that they would achieve that goal.
It’s not ideal for Andy Welbury, whose home currently overlooks the lovely, countryside view of the fields, which could become a housing development.
“I think it’s completely inappropriate,” he said, exasperatedly. “It had always been the preference to build on brownfield sites and not greenfield.
“This has been argued its grey belt. It doesn’t look very grey to me. There’s cows in the field.
“There is existing brownfield sites that have been approved for some time at the top end of the village.” Andy explains. “There’s an old mill which is an ideal brownfield site. This appears to be an opportunist grab.”
There are also fears that the building of the development could see the village of Wilsden merging with the nearby village of Harden.
According to the National Planning Policy Framework, one of the purposes of the green belt is to ‘prevent neighbouring towns from merging into one another’, but this does not apply to villages.
Council documents show that the land is deemed to ‘not be performing strongly as green belt land’ and also cites the fact this development would be on the ‘edge of the village adjoining existing developments on both sides.’
For residents like Carol, they’re urging the Prime Minister to change “get rid of the ridiculous grey belt.”
“It’s making life very, very difficult for people in our situation” she told LBC.
Bradford Council and Labour MP for Shipley Anna Dixon have been approached for comment.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Community and Local Government said,
“It is ultimately for councils to decide whether land should be classed as grey belt, and there are already strong protections in place for green spaces.
“In the limited cases where development is allowed on green belt it must deliver more affordable housing, better infrastructure, and new or improved green spaces so that people in places like Bradford benefit.”