Responding to Green Belt reforms: God’s heart for our urban housing

Blog

6 Mar

Molly Carroll, European Studies student at UCL

“The views and opinions expressed below are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the Jubilee Centre or its trustees.”

A major housing crisis is reshaping the political map of Britain, and at its centre lies an uncomfortable question: can we keep our Green Belt exactly as it is and still build the homes we need?

Green Belts, the circles of protected land around cities and towns, have long been used in England as a means of building healthy and thriving cities. Contrary to popular belief, these belts exist primarily for urban developmental reasons – containing urban sprawl, ensuring higher density – and not for environmental protection. And they have been effective in their goals: when compared with cities with fewer land restrictions, such as Los Angeles, British cities outperform on many counts. [1]

Today, our cities are rapidly growing [2] as are urban populations. [3] And yet it seems that infrastructure and public services are not keeping up with these trends. We hear endless complaints about our broken NHS, [4] crumbling schools, [5] and councils in crisis. [6] It is commonly accepted now that our country is over-capacitated and under-resourced.

The housing crisis specifically has been the focus of much of this grumbling. ‘Planning reform’ was mentioned 520 times in Parliament in 2025 (compared with another cultural buzzword, ‘small boats’, at just 336). [7] The widespread lack of Affordable Housing has been a pressing concern on a generational level as well. The crisis significantly affects young first-time buyers. Only a few of my peers have succeeded in buying property in their twenties, and they have posted gleeful pictures of them holding their keys on Instagram, a rare status symbol. In 1997, a middle-income household could afford to put a deposit on a house after just three years of saving; today it would take 20 years. [8] Unless Gen-Z and Gen Alpha start saving for their first house from their infancy, assuming no family support, their chances of owning a house in their early career are slim.

The enormity of the challenge has led to more and more people to call for systemic reform. The current government announced ambitious housing targets at the start of their tenure, pledging to build 1.5 million new homes by 2029. Both among Whitehall staff and the planning world more widely, this figure is considered far too ambitious and generally unattainable. [9] It could only be delivered through great changes to the creaking planning system.

One major change that the government has undertaken in this direction is loosening the Green Belt corset. New parcels of land are being made available, named ‘grey belt land’ – former Green Belt land that is no longer living up to its potential. Proposed housing developments on grey belt land must abide by the ‘Golden Rules’. These include committing to improve local and national infrastructure, creating or refreshing local green spaces, and ensuring at least 50% of the houses are affordably priced. Some say that these requirements are limiting and off-putting to developers. But the desire to build more must be safeguarded against quick fixes that perpetuate the inequalities that riddle our planning system. Building unaffordable homes in run-down communities is no way to solve this crisis.

Reviewing Biblical law helps to frame our vision of best housing and land usage. God’s heart for our land is for it to thrive so that we too can thrive. In Numbers 35, God commands that the pastureland surrounding Levitical cities be set aside for grazing cattle and livestock. This early Green Belt-style restriction designates land for agricultural use, with the livestock sustaining the Levitical priests by providing daily food and animals for sacrifice. The land is allotted for the city’s wellbeing and worship; our land use today should similarly cultivate our well-being and worship. Elsewhere the Bible says, “seek the peace and prosperity of [your] city… because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” [10] A prosperous city grows within it a prosperous people. What does a prosperous city look like in the eyes of the Lord?

Throughout Scripture, God’s heart for the vulnerable and poor is clear; when it comes to housing, this is no different. Old Testament law is filled with commands to make provision for those who need it most. Numbers 27, for example, describes a case brought before Moses: the daughters of Zelophehad have just lost their father, and with it, their right to their family’s land. The male primogeniture customs of Mosaic law said that these young women stood to lose all they had, a painful combination of familial grief and material loss. Moses humbly brings the case before the Lord, who declares that these women must certainly receive their fathers’ inheritance; God then announces this as law to formally accord them these rights. When faced with their need and pain, in justice God proclaims that no one is to be without land. Isaiah similarly pronounces God’s great woe on those “who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land”. [11] Land is not to be accumulated or hoarded: it is for all people to have access to, regardless of status or wealth.

Another part of God’s heart that is seen time and again in Scriptures is for family and community. Land remains in families and clans, passed down between generations, creating long-lasting and deeply rooted relationships between people and land. “No inheritance in Israel is to pass from one tribe to another, for every Israelite shall keep the tribal inheritance of their ancestors.” [12] An Israelite’s inheritance was his familial land, a provision that met both a material and immaterial need. Materially, it ensured that all peoples had access to land, to cultivate and build on as they desired and required. Immaterially, it created rich troves of relational wealth: land infused with memories and community. God’s good plan for housing places relationships at the centre. He honours and empowers families to build lasting inheritances on and through their land.

With these biblical parameters in mind, how can we best evaluate and respond to the government’s Green Belt policies? Faced with the current housing crisis, how can our cityscape adapt to become more equitable and relational?

It is imperative that the houses we are building today are affordable and accessible, especially for those who need it most. Quotas around Social and Affordable Housing must not be loosened or tightened based on fickle political will or changing circumstance. The Bible tells us, “There will never cease to be poor in the land”, followed immediately by the command, “You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.” [13] Changing our requirements of Social and Affordable Housing with the tides of the day, as seen in recent emergency housing measures applied in London, [14] denies the reality that there will always be those in need of this housing. Rather, our attitude towards the poor and vulnerable should always be one of generosity.

While the tighter profit margins associated with social housing can be off-putting to developers, many schemes actually use these homes to de-risk projects: housing associations or investors will sign contracts to buy a set number of affordable units at an agreed price before building even starts, giving developers an early, guaranteed return and helping to recoup land costs. Affordable homes are not merely a charitable ‘add-on’ but can sit at the financial heart of a viable scheme.

Another significant brake on development is the rising cost of construction. Increasingly expensive materials and serious labour shortages are pushing up construction costs, and the capped rents and sale prices of Social and Affordable Housing mean developers cannot pass on these costs to customers. The government’s reforms include measures to mitigate these issues, including a prospective National Housing Bank to provide public investment where market finance alone would not suffice, [15] and a new programme of Technical Excellence Colleges to train up the next generation of bricklayers, electricians, and plumbers. [16] The impact of these changes will become clear with time – the Housing Bank becomes operational in April, and the colleges promise 40,000 new workers by 2029 – but they are positive steps towards ensuring access to Affordable Housing.

A further step to be taken, alongside increased loans for first-time buyers, could be subsidising brownfield developments: clearing debris from these previously developed sites is so expensive that developers are entirely disincentivised from building on them. If the government shouldered some of this burden, many land parcels would become more attractive to developers. When schemes are structured wisely and backed by government support, insisting on generous Affordable Housing quotas is not simply a far-off ideal, but can be entirely compatible with financially sustainable development. Social and Affordable Housing should be treated as a non-negotiable in development, especially when the need is so great, as it is now.

Building with communities in mind requires locally made decisions. Those living in the land know it best: which areas are most valued, which parcels of land are not serving the community well. Empowering communities to make decisions about their land helps to grow the rooted relationality that is so central to Levitical land inheritance laws. Strong and meaningful public consultations on land use enable a community’s voice to be truly heard. These consultations are beneficial for both developers and residents. Changes are more likely to be welcomed when the community feels a sense of ownership over plans, and the planning application process tends to proceed more quickly, as issues are ironed out sooner.

Alongside public consultations, strengthening local government is an effective means of empowering communities. The Green Belt reforms have given greater responsibility and resources to Local Planning Authorities to review land within their area. This local investment reflects a strong emphasis on community within the reforms. Yet it would be naïve to suggest that empowering local communities is always positive, when in fact local obstruction to new developments or regeneration is not rare. With growing hostility and a widespread scarcity mindset, it is easy to clutch on tightly to the scant resources that we have, to say “not here, not now” to new developments. But the Lord’s command to “open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor” in Deuteronomy should ring loudly in our ears. [17] True localism will sometimes require communities to welcome changes to the land they love, as love of place in the biblical narrative is always bound up in love of neighbour.

Housing developments should always prioritise the very people they are built for; houses that are detached from relationships and communities are not truly homes. Saying “yes” to God’s relational heart of justice and care looks like opening our hands wide in generosity to those who need our help the most. Pursuing fairer and more affordable housing through the loosening of land restrictions is a concrete way to “seek the peace and prosperity of the city” today. [18]

References:

[1] Alice Roberts, Building on London’s Green Belt Will Not Solve the Housing Crisis
https://www.cprelondon.org.uk/news/building-on-green-belt-will-not-solve-londons-housing-crisis/

[2] UK GOV, Trend Deck 2021: Urbanisation

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/trend-deck-2021-urbanisation/trend-deck-2021-urbanisation#englands-urban-population-is-growing-faster-than-the-rural-population

[3] Xuanru Lin, Quantity or quality?

https://www.centreforcities.org/blog/quantity-or-quality-what-job-growth-tells-us-about-city-living-standards/

[4] UK GOV, Road to recovery: the government’s 205 mandate to NHS England https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/road-to-recovery-the-governments-2025-mandate-to-nhs-england/road-to-recovery-the-governments-2025-mandate-to-nhs-england

[5] BBC News, Photos show crumbling walls and mould in school https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c93ll13znqno

[6] The Guardian, Councils in crisis
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/series/councils-in-crisis

[7] UK Parliament Hansard, search results for ‘planning reform’ https://hansard.parliament.uk/search?startDate=2025-01-01&endDate=2025-12-31&searchTerm=planning%20reform&partial=False&sortOrder=1

[8] The Economist, The green-belt delusion https://www.proquest.com/docview/1868996566/4ADE0D32BD2D4743PQ/1?accountid=14511&sourcetype=Magazines

[9] Anoosh Chakelian, Britain’s housebuilding crisis on my block https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/society/2026/01/britains-housebuilding-crisis-on-my-block