Thinking beyond the grey belt – the case for connectivity 

As the first major milestones of the Labour government have been reached, most recently the first party conference and first 100 days in power, we now look towards the first Budget. While there is speculation as to what will be announced, what we can be sure of is Labour’s unwavering ambition to “get Britain building again”.

It is looking to the ‘grey belt’ to help deliver the 1.5 million new homes it is targeting over the next five years and focusing on home ownership, but is there an untapped opportunity elsewhere? What about places with social infrastructure, a sense of place, an established community and, crucially, better connectivity than you would typically expect from grey belt area development opportunities?

Last year, Savills research found that 70% of first-time buyers were looking for a city-based location and that connectivity was the most important factor when considering a new build’s location, followed by proximity to places of work. Meanwhile, The Social Market Foundation has reported that transport is the single largest household expense (excluding mortgage costs) for rural families and the second largest for urban ones, with the cost of transport contributing significantly to poverty. As such, delivering homes with good connectivity into and around cities is crucial, particularly for attracting “working people” – a phrase used by Starmer 16 times during his Labour Party Conference speech.

At HUB, connectivity is crucial to our site acquisition strategy. One of the key factors in deciding which sites to acquire is proximity to railway and train stations; we know that people will choose to live in these homes because of the connectivity on offer.

Connectivity was a catalyst for the development of our recently completed Wembley Link scheme, which has unlocked housing for a new community of renters and improved the surrounding public spaces. We have also seen first-hand how new and improved transport infrastructure can unlock regeneration through the likes of Crossrail and HS2. Our Abbey Place scheme (pictured), a stone’s throw from the Abbey Wood Elizabeth Line station (and which is 72% affordable), is testament to this, as is our One Maidenhead build-to-rent development, at the other end of the line.

While the amount of housing that grey belt land could deliver is disputed, there is undoubtedly an opportunity to tap into underutilised land in more suburban locations. However, not all pockets of grey belt land will offer the connectivity that so many Britons are clearly looking for. Nor will they offer an established sense of place to help bed in new communities.

The housing sector is in need of innovative thinking to deliver the homes Britain needs. Instead of simply championing homeownership in what Labour has called “dreary wasteland”, let’s unlock well-connected sites that will enable these new homes to serve the communities that will live there, both now and in the future. So, whether or not our new Chancellor announces in the Budget that we are to tighten our belts, let’s look beyond the grey ones.