Re-classifying Investment Land
Even with the present housing crisis it still remains politically unacceptable to build too many homes on green belt land. Councils overcome this problem by “re-classifying” investment land.
For example, the City & District Council of St Albans is presently in the second review of the District Local Plan. One of the issues they mention in this report is:
- Issue 3: Should any of the Green Belt settlements be excluded from the Green Belt and reclassified as large villages, which would mean that larger housing developments could be permitted on appropriate sites? If so, which settlements should be classified as large villages?
The re-classification of green belt investment land to allow for the building of residential homes is given the euphemism “drawing back the green belt” by the South Cambridgeshire District Council in their report “The Way Forward” – An Assessment of the DEGW Report to Cambridge City Council on the Eastern Expansion of Cambridge.
This report mentions:
- 2.1 The District Council proposed a strategy, which was made up as follows:
- 1. Within the built-up area of Cambridge - 3,000 Houses
- 2. On the edge of Cambridge by drawing back the Green Belt - 8,100 Houses
- 3. For the longer term reserve by drawing back the Green Belt - 4,600 Houses
- 4. In a small new town - 6,000 Houses
- 5. In the ring of Market Towns - 4,900 Houses
- 2.2 This approach was agreed by the Council’s Planning Committee in April 2001. In coming to this overall strategy the committee considered the general locations where the Green Belt around Cambridge would need to be withdrawn to provide for the 8,100 houses:
- To the north-west of the city
- In the Trumpington area
- To the west of Trumpington Road
- In the Addenbrooks area
- To the north of Newmarket Road
- The northern part of Cambridge Airport
- The southern part of Cambridge Airport
This, often silent, re-classification of investment land to allow house building greatly increases the value of the investment land. Investors holding greenbelt land for sale that is re-classified to allow house building can expect windfall returns of over 300% on their investment.
Deciding on which pieces of greenbelt are likely to be re-classified in the future is complex. It is a little like choosing which stocks will give you the best investment gains – a difficult decision, best left to experts in the know. Most of these property development experts work for the large builders and land developers.
Best Plots has seen a gap in the market and is allowing private investors to also share in land investments.
Best Plots identify land for sale in the UK that it believes will gain re-classification for housing, divides the land into affordable residential sized plots and makes these plots of land for sale available to the public.
