ECO-FRIENDLY? Tick. Brownfield land? Tick. Energy-efficient? Tick. The property developer Anthony Hirsch has ticked all the boxes in the Prime Minister’s latest plans to build three million new homes in Britain by 2020. But he can’t even put a spade in the ground because the land he wants to turn into homes has been earmarked for industrial use.

Given Gordon Brown’s determination to build new homes, this is supreme irony. Mr Hirsch’s land is an 11-acre site in Eccles, Greater Manchester, part of an area that needs to attract thousands of new residents to forge its economic recovery. However, the Government’s Regional Spatial Strategy for the North West proposes that up to 1,935 acres of local land must be kept available for business development if Manchester is to maintain and expand its economic success.

For 80 years Mr Hirsch’s plot was home to the Mitchell Shackleton factory, which built crankshafts for ships. The firm went into receivership in 2003 and Mr Hirsch’s company, Chester Developments, bought the land. Attempts to turn it into a business park or sell it on to a commercial buyer have failed. The site, bordering the M602 and close to the Bridgewater canal and the popular residential suburb of Monton, is plagued by vandals and stands neglected and forlorn.

“We tried a number of things,” says Mr Hirsch. “But we couldn’t get anybody interested. Then it occurred to me that it might be better to go down the residential route. The way building regulations were going, we thought we would be wise to make our plans as eco-friendly as we could.”

Good houses don’t just happen at the click of a Prime Minister’s fingers - they will take time

BACKGROUND

• Comment: The housing shortage

• A new property map of England

• What a decade brought

• Red tape to be cut for home extensions

• Brown to build five eco towns

Comment: The housing shortage

Government statistics, not a byword for reliability, must not be the only proof that homes are needed

BACKGROUND

• A Princely project

• A Mersey mission

• Venetian style in Bristol’s docks

• Some slender solutions

Chester Developments sought outline planning permission in May 2006 for 350 homes with wind turbines to supply energy, rainwater harvesting, solar energy panels and recycling facilities. The £100 million scheme, ranging from 400 sq ft starter units to five-bedroom apartments, also proposed communal gardens for children, allotments, roof-top gardens and a car-sharing initiative. Permission was refused by Salford City Council’s planning committee last December. Why? Because the site is designated strictly for industrial use only under the council’s Unitary Development Plan (UDP), which was adopted last year. This means that homes cannot be built on it, even though there is no other obvious demand.

“Developing the UDP took into account a report that employment land was marginal and we needed to safeguard it,” says a spokeswoman for the council. “It is my understanding that once it is adopted it cannot be amended. However, I believe it can be departed from in certain circumstances where the need is overriding.” So far, the need has not been judged as “overriding” for this site. This is despite Gordon Brown’s aim of encouraging the building of new homes on urban sites, and the council’s much-trumpeted “green credentials” – it champions recycling, is upgrading its cycling routes and proposes to switch its 400 vehicles over to bio-diesel fuel.

The “green issue” has contributed to the battle. When planning permission was originally refused, Councillor Derek Antrobus, Salford City Council’s lead member for planning, told reporters: “The only information about their [Chester Developments’] ‘eco-homes’ has been in terms of their marketing. It did not form part of the application. Our assessment is that the company would be doing nothing more than they would be required to do by latest planning guidance and building regulations. Without imputing motives to this particular developer, it would not be unknown for an applicant to secure value for their site by acquiring outline planning consent and then selling it on at a profit.”

After legal advice Chester Developments decided against resubmitting plans for a revised, more detailed scheme. A three-day public inquiry is to be held on August 14, at which Chester Developments will appeal against the council’s December 2006 decision. Mr Antrobus said in a statement: “As the decision taken regarding this specific application is subject to a public inquiry, we cannot comment on it.”

Mr Hirsch’s frustration has been given fresh impetus after the Prime Minister’s ambitious announcement on new homes last week. “If Gordon Brown wants things to be done, he’s got to get through to grassroots level,” he says.

Last week the Prime Minister told MPs: “Through this decade and right up to 2020 I want us – in environmentally friendly ways using principally brownfield land and building eco-towns and villages – to meet housing need by building . . . three million new homes by 2020.”

The implications are clear. If Gordon Brown’s “big idea” is to get off the drawing board, conditions attached to brownfield sites will have to become more flexible, planners and developers will need to forge new ways of working, and townhall politics will have to be kept well away from building sites. Nothing less than an industrial revolution is required.

Where should we build the new homes that Gordon Brown wants? Have your say: timesonline.co.uk/newhomes

ACRES TO SPARE

Brownfield land is “previously developed” land and buildings that are now lying vacant. It can include derelict land and buildings and gardens. It excludes land and buildings currently in use for agricultural or forestry purposes, and land in built-up areas that has not been developed previously such as parks, recreation grounds and allotments

There are 154,935 acres of land in England classed as “brownfield” or “previously developed” by English Partnerships, the Government’s national regeneration agency. Of this land, 66,100 acres, or 43 per cent, is available for housing.

An estimated 84,015 acres of brownfield land is vacant or derelict, which is 55 per cent of the total.

Up to 974,000 homes could potentially be fitted on brownfield land assessed as suitable for housing and available.

The Government’s target is for 60 per cent of new homes to be built on brownfield land by 2008. In 2006 almost 75 per cent of new homes were built on brownfield sites (56 per cent in 1997).

The North West has the largest amount of previously developed land with 27,181 acres, and the largest amount that is vacant or derelict at 20,139 acres.

The South East has the most available brownfield land assessed as suitable for housing, with 12,355 acres. The East of England was next with 9,884 acres. Source: English Partnerships

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