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Leading land agent Aston Mead has thrown its support behind green belt ‘swaps’ – a government initiative to remove protections on one part of the UK’s green belt in return for creating a new area of protected land elsewhere.

The move is expected to be publicly backed by ministers in a White Paper next month, and is seen as a significant change in planning policy, as the government struggles to meet its target to build a million homes by 2020.

Aston Mead Land & Planning Director Charles Hesse said: “This latest move is certainly a step in the right direction. Crucially, it consigns to history the idea that all green belt is of equal value. Instead, it recognises that whilst some of it is highly desirable and should be protected at all costs, much of it could be built upon without any real loss to the environment.

“If this means another important but currently unprotected piece of land receives a level of protection it didn’t previously have, that can only be a good thing. Ultimately, it’s a sensitive way of protecting rural land, while giving councils the powers to reach their ambitious planning targets.”

Communities and local government secretary Sajid Javid is said to be ready to encourage councils to allow more housing developments of green belt land, provided that the local plans are “sensible” and “robust”, and that the total amount of protected land does not fall.

Charles Hesse explained: “The demand for housing has grown so severe in parts of the country that it should count as an ‘exceptional circumstance’, giving local councils more freedom to carry out what they want to do. In fact, there are already rules that allow local authorities to do this, but they are rarely used because of disagreements over how green belt land is defined.”

The first green belts were introduced in the 1950s to protect undeveloped land from urban sprawl. There are 14 such areas around towns and cities in England, covering about 13% of the country.

Charles Hesse added: “Of course, we need to ensure that these ‘swaps’ are not carried out in a token manner. Any new area of land which is designated green belt needs genuinely to be of environmental, historic or ecological importance. If it’s not carefully selected and is something which could in fact be perfectly good building land, then we will simply be back where we started.

“Nevertheless, outright opposition to all building on green belt land is no longer tenable – and it’s good to see that ministers are at long last waking up to this fact.”

Leading land broker Aston Mead is calling for local authorities to set up joint venture partnerships with developers, in order to accelerate the building of affordable homes.

Land & Planning Director Adam Hesse suggests that councils offer selected land to developers as part of joint venture partnerships, which would prevent developers having to raise funding for both the purchase and build of properties – something which SME developers in particular find difficult to do.

He said: “The simple truth is that no developer is going to consider a site when as much as half of it has to be classed as affordable. Instead, we need a radical new approach to the problem, and – as the largest landowners in the country – I believe local authorities can provide the solution.

“Councils already have to make available lists of land which they own. Land could be offered on the basis that at least 50% of it is for affordable homes. The developers then have the opportunity to bid for each site on a sealed tender basis – which ensures that the local authority is getting the best price possible.

“The developer gets almost immediate income back from having a ready-made buyer who will take 50% of the housing off their hands – perhaps in staged payments – and the council gets its cut of the profits following the sale of the private section. It’s a win/win solution!”

Adam Hesse says such an approach would mean more land is brought forward for development – particularly the smaller sites in towns and villages that are badly needed – and brings with it a whole host of benefits.

He explained: “This way developers get to crack on without long planning issues because the local authority will have been supporting them from the very start, and the council get the 50% target they are looking for – or even higher if necessary. It might go on to prove that it’s possible to develop affordable housing next to private homes and make it work successfully. And if so, it might encourage other schemes to follow suit.”

He added: “There may even be some sites where the council keeps the units and becomes a Private Rental Sector landlord themselves. As a result, councils would start to take back control and be less at the mercy of private landlords, some of whom are not the most scrupulous when it comes to housing benefit.

“But we must make no mistake: increasing the amount of affordable housing is one of the key considerations in construction today. We need to provide more – both for the people who need a roof over their heads, and to reduce the impact housing has on the rising cost of living.”

Leading land agent Aston Mead says that campaigners in favour of maintaining the green belt need to accept that some of it will have to be built on, if a solution is to be found for the UK housing crisis.

The company’s comments come after the release of a report from the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), which claims to have uncovered blueprints for more than 123,000 homes on 203 sites on protected green belt land around London. The group says that most of them “are allocated in Local Plan documents, so the threats are real”.

Aston Mead Land & Planning Director Adam Hesse said: “It’s time that campaign groups like the CPRE stopped making knee-jerk reactions to every proposed bit of building on green belt land – especially when some of these Local Plans haven’t even been adopted.

“First of all it’s important to correct the misconception that green belt land has an inherent ecological or agricultural value – it doesn’t. Nor was it chosen because it has natural beauty or protected wildlife.

“The truth is that there are different ‘grades’ of greenbelt out there – some of which should be protected at all costs. But there’s a lot of what I call ‘grubby’ greenbelt – especially around road junctions and train stations – which most people would be surprised to discover was even considered to be green belt in the first place.”

Adam Hesse points to a particular case of greenbelt land in Surrey, which he suggests contains all the right ingredients for planning permission to be obtained, and is a prime contender for the sort of location where new homes might even enhance the area.

He explains: “For example, there’s a patch of land near Junction 11 of the M25. There are over 20 acres of ‘grubby’ greenbelt there, all rather uninspiring as it stands, but big enough for over 200 homes. It’s within walking distance of Addlestone station, there are hundreds of existing homes nearby, and the network of roads around it would prevent further development once it was built. Most people wouldn’t even realise this is green belt land and few people would miss it if it was built on.”

There are 14 areas of green belt in the UK, with that around London covering 1.2m acres – where the CPRE claim to have found “threatened areas” including 207,000 acres in Hertfordshire, 300,000 acres in Surrey, and 240,000 acres in Essex.

Adam Hesse adds: “The trouble is that the idea of creating protected ribbons of land around our major urban areas is an outdated and failed experiment. Instead of preventing urban sprawl, the green belt has pushed house building into genuinely valuable parts of the countryside that really should be protected. All of which has meant longer commuting times, increased expense and more pollution.

“In effect, green belts now act as ‘walls’ which confine urban dwellers at increasingly higher densities – and are partly the reason why house prices are out of reach for so many.

“This country is already prioritising development on brown field land, and it’s expected that 90% of such sites will have planning permission by 2020. But if we are going to solve this country’s housing crisis, some building on green belt land is now inevitable.”

Leading land brokers Aston Mead say that the new Government under Theresa May should set its sights on building 300,000 homes each year, rather than the 200,000 proposed under David Cameron’s leadership.

The company’s comments come after the publication of a new report from the cross-party House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee, entitled ‘Building More Homes’, which indicates that the current 200,000 target is not high enough.

Aston Mead Land & Planning Director Charles Hesse said: “I’m not sure where the figure of 200,000 homes came from, but even then it was evidently too low. However, even this target failed to be met; last year only a total of 160,000 were completed.

“The last time the UK built more than 200,000 homes a year it was post-war, and there was a massive council housing programme under way. So we need radical changes in the way that we approach house-building, to enable construction to take place at a much faster rate.”

Charles Hesse suggests a three point plan that would help to fund construction and free-up available land, so that companies can start building with the minimum of delay.

He explained: “Firstly, Mrs May should establish a National Housebuilding Fund to finance public sector commissioning. Borrowing costs are at rock-bottom, and something in the region of £20 billion would cover the cost of constructing 100,000 homes, which could be sold direct into owner-occupation.

“Secondly, we should be braver about building on the less desirable areas of greenbelt. Whilst some of it should be preserved at all costs, other areas would actually be improved by being built on. There are 514,000 hectares of green belt surrounding London. You only need a tiny fraction of that to more than satisfy housing supply.

“Finally, local authorities should be encouraged to release land they themselves own. In London alone there is enough public-sector land to build at least 130,000 homes. A lot of authorities are not planning for enough houses, and they are not getting enough challenges from the planning inspectors about how to do it. And if that means an intervention from central Government, then so be it.

“Ultimately, we need to double the current rate of construction. Tinkering at the edges – providing a dozen homes here and there – is no longer enough. Housebuilding needs a radical overhaul, and without it we will never get close to the target of 300,000 new homes a year that this country so desperately needs.”

One of the UK’s leading land brokers has called for calm in the property sector, following Britain’s referendum vote to leave the European Union.

Adam Hesse, Director at Aston Mead Land & Planning says that despite the Remain camp’s previous warnings of disaster, remarkably little has changed in the first 12 days since the vote.

He explained: “The truth is that bids are still being brokered and deals are still being done. We’ve not had anyone pull out of any land deals as a result. In fact, we were selling a site with sealed bids on the day the result was announced – and everyone who was due to bid did so. But there is a danger that people will believe the warnings and assume Brexit means chaos will prevail – and then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Adam Hesse said that regardless of the way individuals voted in the referendum, businesses and organisations should accept that the UK would be pulling out of the EU and move forward.

He explained: “It was a democratic decision, so we have to abide by the outcome and move on. In effect, we’re all Brexiteers now. All this talk of a second referendum is only making things worse. The result on the day was conclusive. What if a second vote went the other way? What do these campaigners want – the best of three?

“The reality is that we’ll be leaving the EU and our job in the property sector is to help the transition work as effectively as possible. That means we need an end to scare stories and doom-and-gloom scenarios. Instead we should unite together with an optimistic outlook to take advantage of the new opportunities that are now on offer.”

Adam Hesse said that despite short-term difficulties along the way, all the right ingredients were still in place for the country to prosper.

He added: “All the solid fundamentals are there. I’m talking about high employment, decent purchasing power and very low mortgage rates – which might yet go lower still. And the Chancellor has indicated in the past few days that Corporation Tax may well be coming down too.

“Any land which has been bought and been through planning since we came out of recession is still going to be built on. Other sites may have to be renegotiated – but that’s no different to what a private buyer goes through when they are purchasing a house.

“Admittedly, some of the steam may have been taken out of the market and we could be in for a quieter summer as things readjust. So developers are understandably cautious. But they are not going to be helped by a tidal wave of pessimism which will only make things worse.

“There may be challenging times ahead – but there are real opportunities too. As far as new homes and land are concerned, Britain is still very much open for business.”

Leading land agent Aston Mead has hit back at those who have doubted the ability of the UK to build a million new homes by 2020.

The pledge is at the heart of the government’s landmark Housing & Planning Bill, which received Royal Assent earlier this month. However, a recent survey of owners and directors of 389 housebuilders across England indicated that just over half (51%) thought the target would not be met.

Aston Mead Land & Planning Director Adam Hesse said: “The danger is that the planning pessimists out there will create a self-fulfilling prophecy. A million homes by 2020 is perfectly possible – as the Home Builders Federation have stated quite clearly. But it will need conviction and commitment, as well as further government policies in favour of development, and help to speed up the planning process.

“We’ve already seen huge increases in output, with build rates on large sites doubling since 2010. There were more than 180,000 new homes delivered in 2014/15, with this year’s figure expected to be higher still. And by 2019 the big companies will be building double what they did six years ago. Now we need to speed up the momentum even further, so that we ensure we reach the target of one million new homes by 2020.”

Despite his optimism, Adam Hesse says that the industry needs to see more land coming through the planning system, and processes that support both large and smaller house builders.

He explained: “Several significant advances have happened already. Brownfield sites will now automatically be approved for building, with £10m worth of funding to help local authorities prepare them. There are also plans to relax the planning rules for smaller house builders, enabling them to gain automatic planning permission on suitable sites. And changes to the section 106 agreement will enable developers to provide affordable homes to buy, instead of affordable homes for rent.

“But it’s local councils – the largest landowners in the country – which will be key to the success of this project. They must get up-to-date housing plans in place, ensuring that they are robust and evidence-based. They should review their planning application process and the conditions attached to planning which represent such a major challenge for developers. Plus they need to streamline their planning processes and improve communication so that once approved, building can get underway quickly.

“For their part, house builders are already investing in their supply chains and have taken on tens of thousands of new workers to ensure there is the capacity and skills required. All we need now is the conviction and commitment to carry it off.”

Leading home counties land broker Aston Mead says its message about the need to build on carefully selected areas of greenbelt land appears to be getting through.

The company’s comments come after the recent release of research based on councils’ draft and adopted local plans, which indicates that a thousand extra homes a week are being planned for greenbelt sites in England. The number of new houses proposed has risen to 274,792 – about 55,000 more than in March last year.

Aston Mead Land & Planning Director Adam Hesse said: “At long last, we are seeing things starting to move in the right direction. Planners finally seem to understand that sometimes the need for housing outweighs the need to protect the greenbelt. And it’s important to remember that greenbelt land has no inherent ecological or agricultural value, nor was it chosen because it has natural beauty or protected wildlife.

“The greenbelt’s only function was to stop urban sprawl. But it has singularly failed to do that and has instead just pushed housing further out into the countryside, resulting in higher commuting costs. What’s more, it now acts as a wall that confines urban dwellers at increasingly higher densities, and is partly the reason why house prices are out of reach for so many.”

Adam Hesse says that recent research by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) suggests greenbelt boundaries were being changed to accommodate more housing at the fastest rate for two decades.

He explained: “The pace certainly seems to be picking up. Here in the south east, more than 117,000 (117,208) homes are planned for the Metropolitan greenbelt around London – including 42,000 in Hertfordshire, 20,000 in Surrey, 13,000 in Bedfordshire and 9,000 in Essex.

“This country is already prioritising development on brownfield land. Indeed, it’s expected that 90% of such sites will have planning permission by 2020. But it’s important to recognise that certain areas of greenbelt land are also ripe for development – and some of them would actually be improved by it.”

Leading land broker Aston Mead is advising councils without up-to-date local housing plans in place to act quickly before the Government steps in to write their plans for them.

Local authorities have been given until March 2017 to produce a local plan in accordance with the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), which was introduced in 2012. However, with less than a year to go, recent research suggests that fewer than a third of local planning authorities outside London have an up-to-date NPPF-compliant plan.

Aston Mead Land & Planning Director Adam Hesse said: “It’s absolutely incredible that with the deadline looming large on the horizon, so few councils have got their act together. By next year they will have had five years since the introduction of the NPPF – and yet the vast majority have still to come up with the goods.

“They have already been warned that if they fail to do so the Government will intervene to arrange for the plan to be written for them, in consultation with local people. What’s more, they have also been told that if they have not kept the policies in their local plan up-to-date, they will be a high priority for intervention”.

The research, carried out by consultancy Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners, identified 21 local planning authorities most at risk of intervention – the majority of which are in the metropolitan green belt around London. They include Brentwood, Chelmsford, Epping Forest, Rochford and Uttlesford in Essex; Epsom & Ewell, Guildford, Mole Valley, Tandridge and Waverley in Surrey; East Hertfordshire and Three Rivers in Hertfordshire; Hart and New Forest in Hampshire; and Sevenoaks and Tonbridge and Malling in Kent. Others include Buckinghamshire councils South Buckinghamshire and Wycombe, as well as Derbyshire Dales, Oxford, and Windsor and Maidenhead.

Adam Hesse added: “Already we’re working with individuals in these areas, who have discovered that it’s much easier getting planning permission on greenbelt land accepted by authorities without a local plan in place.

“But local councils should act quickly. There are even proposals to withhold a financial reward known as the ‘New Homes Bonus’ from councils which fail to produce a local plan in time – so together they could lose millions in payouts. And ultimately no council worth its salt wants to have its planning policy dictated by Westminster.”

Leading land agent Aston Mead is calling on local councils to play a greater part in the push to create more affordable homes.

The company’s comments follow a recent analysis of London Land Commission data, which indicates that 93% of brownfield sites in London are owned by local authorities.

Aston Mead Director Adam Hesse said: “The only way to build cheaper homes is to pay less for the land on which they are built. We can’t expect private landowners to reduce their profits by selling land at subsidised prices. So as the largest landowners in the country, it’s the councils which hold the key to solving the affordable housing crisis. They need to identify the brownfield sites they are currently sitting on, and make them available.”

Under the Housing and Planning Bill, all local authorities will be required to keep up-to-date registers of publicly-owned brownfield land that could be suitable for development. Adam Hesse suggests that councils could start to act like residential property developers, perhaps in joint ventures with existing construction companies.

He explains: “One idea could be for councils to build 25% of their homes on their own land for housing benefit tenants, whilst retaining ownership of these properties. This would prevent payments being made to ‘Rachman’ style landlords, whilst giving the council more control over those who are in genuine need of accommodation. The local authorities would also retain the value of their estates as long term investors.

“In addition, another 50% could be built for keyworkers, who would perhaps be allowed to buy half and rent half, with the option to buy the remainder of the property at a later stage. A pre-agreed mechanism could be put in place, whereby these owners could only sell the properties to other keyworkers, or back to the local authority. This would ensure that the properties remain affordable.

“Finally, as councils are spending a lot of money housing older people with no way of paying for themselves, the remaining 25% could be built as sheltered accommodation – such as apartment blocks with a resident warden for the over-65s. However, it may be that 25% of each site needs to be sold to developers at market value, to help pay for the rest of the development.”

The recent ‘Domesday Book’ survey of all brownfield land owned by public bodies in London identified almost 37,000 brownfield sites (36,797), which in total could deliver over 100,000 homes.

Adam Hesse added: “What I’m suggesting doesn’t just apply to London. It’s something which could be carried out across the UK. Local authorities are the only organisations that can deliver cheap land for affordable housing in the sort of quantities this country so desperately needs.”

Leading land agent Aston Mead says that a radically different approach to housebuilding is required if the UK is to continue constructing homes on floodplains.

Britain builds nearly 10,000 homes a year on floodplains, with an average of one new home in every 14 constructed on land that has a significant chance of flooding, either from a river or the sea.

Aston Mead Director Richard Watkins said: “This country needs to get rid of its ‘sandbag mentality’ and start building homes which have flood prevention at the core of their construction. We can’t go on treating flooding as an afterthought. Instead, we should be building properties which are specifically designed to rise and fall with the flood water. The technology is already available out there; all we have to do is make best use of it.”

He points to designs for homes which are built on top of a pre-cast pontoon sitting inside an excavated concrete void. As flood water enters the void, the pontoon rises, guided by vertical rails which can be hidden within walls and chimney breasts. As the floodwater recedes, the house returns to its original position, with a pump removing any excess water. Access is available at all times using an articulated pathway, and services remain connected using a system of flexible knuckle joints.

Richard Watkins explained: “This system is completely scalable, and designs of properties can range from the very traditional to the highly contemporary, with the footprint of the floating pontoon extending beyond the building itself to include garages, terraces and gardens. The pontoons can also be used as fully habitable basements and there are few limitations to size, design or even the number of storeys that can be added on top. An additional advantage is that as water fills the void, it reduces the amount of flood water passing onto neighbouring properties.

“These buildings can be mortgaged on standard terms by most high-street lenders, and they also qualify for standard household insurance – despite being on the floodplain. What’s more, if they are also fitted with grey water recycling and photo-voltaic panels, they can remain fully functional safe havens – even in the worst flooding conditions.”

Recent Met Office figures revealed that December 2015 was the wettest month ever recorded in the UK, with almost twice the amount of average rainfall.

Richard Watkins added; “Resorting to a supply of sandbags in the garage ‘just in case’ is no longer good enough. We can’t continue fighting floods forever. Rain will always fall and water will always rise. And with annual rainfall set to continue, even areas not currently at risk may become vulnerable to flooding in the future.

“These new construction methods mean that we can help develop floodplain sites, in the certain knowledge that future owners won’t experience the sort of devastation from flooding that we’ve already seen across the country this winter.”