Waverley Borough Council (WBC) has questioned how relevant the creation of a new Grey Belt category of land is for rural areas.

The Government proposes to introduce a new land designation of Grey Belt to cover sections of land that make a limited contribution to the purposes of the Green Belt.

A House of Lords Built Environment Committee inquiry is seeking to gain a better understanding of what Grey Belt land is, how it can contribute to housing targets and what sustainable Grey Belt development looks like. As part of the process, the committee invited interested parties to share their views.

In a written response to the committee, WBC recognised that it was likely Grey Belt land could be identified at the edge of major urban areas. But stressed that the potential to deliver homes on Green Belt land in rural areas was extremely limited.

Councillor Liz Townsend, WBC portfolio holder for planning and economic development said: “Most Green Belt land in Waverley is protected by national designations that are excluded from the proposed definition of Grey Belt.

“We have more than 88% of our Green Belt land covered by these protections, and this could increase to 93% if Natural England’s proposal to extend the Surrey Hills National Landscape goes ahead.

“The council is required to review the remaining 7-12% of Green Belt land in Waverley as part of preparing our Local Plan, but we already know that the majority of this land will be valuable green space we should be looking to protect.

“Our concern is that introducing a new Grey Belt land designation, unless properly clarified, will encourage speculative planning applications from developers that lead to costly planning appeals.”

The Government’s intention is for Grey Belt land to support housebuilding in poor quality green belt and help local planning authorities meet their housing targets.