Councillors have raised concerns about the new 'grey belt' and whether rural communities in south Warwickshire will be protected from thousands of more homes through the new local plan.

Councillor for Budbrooke Peter Phillips asked at this week's full Warwick District Council meeting what the new South Warwickshire Local Plan (SWLP) is doing about the government's new grey belt plans, and whether this would undermine the protection of the green belt.

Grey belt has been introduced to designate previously developed land and other spots within the green belt to allow them to be "released to build more homes in the right places".

Cllr Phillips pointed to recent comments from Sir Jeremy Wright about Hatton and his "serious concerns" about the proposal to make it a "new settlement" as well as his criticism of the grey belt's scope.

"In respect of the local plan, Sir Jeremy Wright has written an excellent analysis on the changes to the green belt," he said.

He added: "It can be immediately seen, this new definition [of grey belt] goes beyond disused car parks, or garages or ugly wasteland, or previously developed land.

"It is likely to make development more likely in many more sites in a large proportion of the green belt in Warwick district.

"Only the areas neighbouring the conurbations of Coventry, Solihull and Birmingham are relatively safe.

"What is the cabinet's position on this new definition of grey belt?"

In response, portfolio holder for planning, Cllr Chris King, said it was not easy to give a clear answer as the council is "wrestling" with the new terminology and its "different interpretations.

"There are various sorts of signals coming from London," he explained. 

"The issue when you drill down to it, is that if we are going to build the houses we need to build, where are we going to build them? 

"And if we are going to treat the green belt with the respect and the integrity with which it was set up, we have to uncover areas which previously we haven't been able to discover."

He continued: "I agree it is a very complicated issue. 

"But we have to bear in mind - which we are doing within the local plan - is to acknowledge if we do have to take from green belt areas, to have established some sort of criteria that makes sense in terms of prioritising in all the different ways prioritisation has to happen before we start encroaching on our green belt."

The next consultation on the SWLP is expected to take place at the end of 2025.

After the results of this are fed back, the SWLP will be nearing completion, and will be submitted to the Secretary of State for approval. This could be in September 2026.

Already delayed, the SWLP will not be finished until the end of 2027 - providing the are no more hold ups.