OUR VIEW OF THE LAND · BROWNFIELD
New analysis of England’s 2021 brownfield registers shows what these sites have contributed, how much capacity remains and why a brownfield-first approach still needs a wider land strategy.
Reusing previously developed land protects the countryside, makes use of existing infrastructure and revitalises places that need it, which is why “brownfield first” commands such broad support in English planning. Brownfield sites are already making a substantial contribution to England’s housing supply. The question is not whether they matter, but how much more housing we can reasonably expect them to provide.
The latest Banking on Brownfield progress report from the Land, Planning and Development Federation (LPDF) offers a useful test. In 2022, the LPDF analysed every site on England’s local authority brownfield registers in 2021, which together recorded land with an estimated capacity for 1.4 million homes, deliverable within 15 years. The progress report, with analysis by Lichfields and data from Landstack, returns to the same sites to see how many homes they have delivered, what remains and how that remaining capacity compares with housing need.
For us, its findings support a clear distinction: prioritising brownfield land is not the same as relying on it to meet the whole requirement.
What brownfield register sites have delivered
Sites from the 2021 registers have delivered around 220,000 homes. That is a meaningful contribution: a quarter of all net new homes in England between 2021 and 2025 came from register sites. It is also an uneven one, ranging from 45% of new homes in London to just 11% in the East of England.
Measured against need, however, the picture changes. Homes built on register sites represented 12% of the homes needed over the report’s 2021–2026 period. Although that covers a slightly different period from the completions figure, the distinction still holds: register sites have supplied a substantial share of the homes built, and a much smaller share of the homes needed.
How much brownfield housing capacity remains?
The capacity still recorded on the registers tells a similar story. Using the 2026 standard method, the report’s regional figures add up to a need for around 5.6 million homes across England over 15 years. By contrast, the capacity remaining on the 2021 register sites totals around 1.2 million homes, roughly a fifth of that need.
Delivery, meanwhile, has been slow against the registers’ own timescale. At the rate seen since 2021, development would take up less than half of the original estimated capacity within the 15-year window in which the registers described it as deliverable.
There is also reason to treat capacity estimates with caution. On completed sites, for example, delivery reached a median of 14 homes against a median stated capacity of 20. The report describes capacity as overestimated by 30% on average, although that does not justify a uniform adjustment to the sites that remain.
These figures describe the sites recorded in 2021, not every brownfield opportunity that may emerge, so they do not provide a complete forecast of future brownfield supply. They do, however, show the limits of relying on that recorded stock to meet the housing need set against it.
Brownfield capacity and housing need by region
Region by region, the comparison looks like this.
| Region | 15-year housing need | Remaining register capacity | Homes built since 2021 | Remaining capacity as share of need |
| London | 1,273,000 | 318,000 | 62,000 | 25% |
| South East | 1,060,000 | 166,000 | 24,000 | 16% |
| East of England | 668,000 | 116,000 | 13,000 | 17% |
| South West | 601,000 | 90,000 | 15,000 | 15% |
| North West | 538,000 | 173,000 | 41,000 | 32% |
| West Midlands | 459,000 | 111,000 | 27,000 | 24% |
| East Midlands | 414,000 | 81,000 | 17,000 | 20% |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 385,000 | 112,000 | 17,000 | 29% |
| North East | 167,000 | 49,000 | 6,000 | 29% |
Source: LPDF, Banking on Brownfield: Progress Report (2026). Housing need over 15 years uses the 2026 standard method. Share of need calculated from the report’s regional figures.
Remaining register capacity covers the smallest share of need in the South West, the South East and the East of England, at only 15–17% of 15-year need. In the South East in particular, 166,000 homes of remaining capacity sit against a need for 1.06 million. Even in London, where register sites have made their strongest contribution to completions, remaining estimated capacity is equivalent to a quarter of need. In the North West, it is equivalent to around a third.
The share of need that remaining capacity represents therefore varies widely between regions, and a brownfield-first approach needs to recognise those differences rather than assume the same contribution everywhere.
What remains on the registers?
The status of the sites on the 2021 registers matters when interpreting their headline capacity. Of those sites, 22% were already complete before 2021. On 53% of sites, representing a stated capacity of 610,000 homes, no homes have been built and no planning applications submitted since 2021. Just 17% have been active over the period, most of them already started or consented before 2021, and a further 8% have had applications submitted but no homes built yet.
The report describes brownfield sites as typically complex. Those left on the registers tend to be smaller than those already developed, and few large sites remain. It also finds no significant correlation between local housing need and the development of registered sites, underlining the importance of site-specific considerations.
This is the distinction at the heart of our brownfield land promotion approach: assessing the opportunity presented by the individual site, rather than relying on its recorded capacity alone.
The planning history of the homes built is also revealing. Of the homes completed since 2021, 83% came from sites that already had planning permission when local authorities compiled the registers, and a further 15% from sites with an application submitted before 2021. In contrast, sites that received their first planning application after 2021 account for just 2,127 homes, around 1% of the total. In other words, most of the brownfield housing delivered over the period came from sites already well advanced in the planning process.
A principle, not a plan
None of this weakens the case for prioritising brownfield land. It does, though, challenge the expectation that brownfield can make the same contribution everywhere, or that the capacity recorded on registers provides a sufficient answer to housing need.
Our view is that suitable brownfield opportunities should be pursued alongside the assessment of other land, not treated as a reason to postpone it. A strategic approach to land promotion therefore needs to consider both, with the balance reflecting local opportunities and housing need.
For landowners, the regional figures provide context rather than a verdict on an individual site. They are still worth considering alongside their council’s evidence base and emerging local plan, but they do not establish which land should come forward.
Brownfield first remains a sound priority. It should guide the search for suitable land, not define the limits of that search.
Source: Land, Planning and Development Federation, Banking on Brownfield: Progress Report (2026). Analysis and design by Lichfields, with supplementary data provided by Landstack.
What could your brownfield land contribute?
A register entry is only part of the picture. If you own previously developed land, we can assess its development potential and advise on the next steps towards a planning proposal.
