§ Mr. LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what distinction his Department makes between brownfield sites and usable brownfield sites when identifying the amount of developed land available for redevelopment. [115011]
§ Ms Beverley HughesAnnexe C of Planning Policy Guidance Note 3: Housing gives a definition of previously developed land. This definition excludes previously developed land which has blended into the landscape; land where provision has been made for restoration to its natural state; and land which has been put to amenity use and cannot be regarded as requiring development. Using this definition of previously developed land, phase 1 of the National Land Use Database (NLUD) collected information from local authorities on previously developed vacant and derelict sites, whether or not they were available 333W for redevelopment. NLUD also included vacant buildings and sites in use which were allocated for a specific use in the local plan, had planning permission for housing, or with known development potential. In order to estimate how much of the land reported was available for redevelopment, local authorities recorded for each site whether it was allocated in the local plan, the type of any planning permission and the suitability for housing.