Land South of Stansted Mountfitchet and North of Birchanger

‘Grey belt’ land was introduced by the Government in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) in December 2024. It was introduced as an additional way of bringing suitable land forward for much needed new homes in Green Belt areas to help address the national housing crisis.

The Government recognised there are many towns and villages in or surrounded by Green Belt that have potential to grow to provide sustainable patterns of development. If land around those towns and villages do not fulfil three of the five purposes of land being identified as Green Belt, then the NPPF states that those sites can be developed as long as they also meet certain criteria, such as providing more affordable housing, infrastructure requirements and additional or enhanced accessible green space.

The land south of Stansted Mountfitchet and North of Birchanger is considered to be ‘grey belt’ land as it does not strongly contribute to the requisite purposes of the Green Belt and can provide additional and much needed new housing in sustainable locations that fulfil the Government’s criteria.

Grey belt sites provide options for additional sustainable development, if the Government’s criteria are met.

The Government recognised there are many towns and villages in or surrounded by Green Belt that have potential to grow to provide sustainable patterns of development to meet local housing need and in some cases to make existing settlements more sustainable and accessible.

Uttlesford District Council need to provide more new homes than they have planned for. These sites can help meet this need in a sustainable way.

This also means sites can provide more natural extensions to existing settlements, closer to jobs and existing communities, thus providing them with more housing options going forward.

Developing well considered grey belt sites on the periphery of existing settlements gives more options to meet the demand for housing. This may mean less pressure on councils to release large scale development in open Green Belt and other nationally important landscape areas, such as National Landscapes (formerly Areas of Outstanding National Beauty). In turn, existing local residents may benefit from infrastructure improvements, more housing choice and financial contributions to the Council.

The demand for both market and affordable new homes in this part of the country has increased in the last few years, mostly due to people living longer, people getting divorced and not enough houses being built, as well as a national housing crisis. The lack of affordable new homes is a particular issue in Uttlesford with 1,461 households currently on the waiting list for council housing, an increase of 34% since 2019.

All councils need to be able to demonstrate five years of housing land supply. Uttlesford District Council cannot demonstrate this at the moment, so it is under pressure to meet its housing need. The proposed housing on these sites will help to meet this need.

The development will offer a wide range of family homes, including a significant proportion of affordable housing to meet the Government’s criteria, as well as a number of homes suited for first-time buyers, ensuring a balanced and diverse community – allowing for local people to stay in the area they call home.

The proposed development will create high quality new homes, enhance the public realm, and provide new play spaces. The development will result in a significant number of new jobs in the construction industry and local supply chain, and the new residents would increase spending at local businesses and on public transport.

In addition to the existing housing need, the planned expansion of Stansted Airport alongside the new BOX:STN logistics park will result in an increase in jobs in the immediate area increasing the demand for housing in this area. This development will not only help accommodate the growing workforce but will help reduce commuting pressures and ensure sustainable growth in the area.

It is expected that the development will include a comprehensive package of financial contributions towards new and upgraded local infrastructure as well as environmental enhancements. Consultation with stakeholders such as Essex County Council and the NHS during the planning application process will identify the range of contributions towards the local community that shall arise as part of the development.

The development will also make a significant contribution towards meeting affordable housing targets with 50% of the homes to be allocated for affordable housing.

The site is not within an area known to flood, though in some storm events localised flooding is known to occur along the River Stort to the west of the site. A detailed flood risk assessment will be submitted as part of a future planning application to analyse the flood risk associated with the site and identify any measures necessary to make sure that the development would not increase the risk of flooding at the site or elsewhere. In addition, national policy requires us to ensure that the surface water run-off that occurs due to rainfall is managed through the development of sustainable urban drainage attenuation basins, swales and other mechanisms to ensure the rates of run-off from the sites are the same as they are now, whilst also building in capacity for increased rainfall as a result of climate change effects.

The development plans include significant ecological enhancements, including plans to protect the ancient woodland and reinstate historic field boundaries, improve biodiversity net gain, and retain and reinforce existing vegetation where possible. Sustainable active travel is promoted through new and enhanced integrated pedestrian and cycle routes and a Travel Plan will be provided to set specific measures encouraging travel to and from the development by means other than the private car.

Furthermore, the proposed new homes will achieve modern standards of energy efficiency. Development within the site will commit to the emerging Future Homes Standard, due in 2025, which will require new build homes to be future-proofed with low carbon heating and world-leading levels of energy efficiency.