More housing is needed in England and we support the Government’s policy that brownfield land should be used for new homes. However current planning policy doesn’t prioritise building new homes on brownfield land before building in the countryside. More needs to be done to use suitable sites in our towns and cities rather than forcing development into our precious green spaces.
To help us highlight how much brownfield land is available here in Somerset and where it is, we are asking people to nominate brownfield sites near them that they feel should be used for housing or to create jobs in their area. We have started off the map with examples we know of already, ranging from large areas of derelect industrial land or single houses that are boarded up and unused. But we need your help to add more sites to our map.
If you know any more brownfield sites that could be added, please send a grid reference and a brief description - and ideally a photo - to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we will add it to our map.
NB:Not all the brownfield sites identified through our waste of space campaign will be suitable for development for a variety of reasons, not least of which is protecting important biodiversity and habitats. The purpose of our campaign is to raise awareness of the existence of brownfield sites in general, and not to seek redevelopment of those sites in particular: that is correctly a matter for the relevant communities through local and neighbourhood planning processes, taking account of all relevant issues.
We recognise that using brownfield sites alone will not solve the housing crisis, but we should make every attempt to avoid destroying beautiful countryside - home to valuable plants and animals - when there are ugly and derelict sites, with little or no potential for supporting wildlife, left unused within our towns and cities. Building new homes on brownfield sites within or close to urban areas would also enable communities to make the most of existing infrastructure, rather than further endangering the natural environment through new projects.
