Green Belt and grey belt land wanted in West Yorkshire

Is your land in West Yorkshire the kind we want?

West Yorkshire centres on Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Huddersfield and Halifax, with many mill and mining towns such as Dewsbury, Batley, Keighley, Castleford and Pontefract. Green Belt covers much of the open land between these towns, so former mill, industrial and colliery land and town-centre sites are major sources of housing land. Grey belt and smaller fringe sites on the urban edge can also come forward.

• Previously developed land in the Green Belt, such as yards, nurseries or old buildings
• Land the council has identified in a Green Belt review
• Sites with a defensible boundary such as a road or railway
• Land with or without earlier promotion

The South Pennine moors and part of the Peak District National Park border the west, with protected moorland habitats that can require mitigation for nearby schemes. Steep valley sites around Halifax and Huddersfield, and flood risk from the Aire and Calder, are common considerations.

Before we make an offer in West Yorkshire

National policy in England now recognises "medium development" of 10 to 49 homes on sites up to 2.5 hectares, and asks councils to allocate at least 10% of their housing on sites of one hectare or less and a further 10% on sites of one to 2.5 hectares.

English councils keep brownfield land registers, and some previously developed sites can be granted permission in principle, a quicker way of establishing whether housing is acceptable before technical details are settled.

Parts of West Yorkshire are Green Belt, though not every town has any nearby. We check early whether a site is inside it and, if so, whether a grey belt or previously developed land case could apply.