If you live in the East of England
There is not enough brownfield land
You keep being told the houses can go on brownfield. In the East of England, they cannot. The 2024 lists hold 132,338 homes-worth of leftover land. The official housing target is 45,596 homes a year — about 2.9 years, before the problems on the map.
Figures as at 20 September 2026
- On the leftover-land lists
- 132,338
- homes-worth, CPRE 2024 count
- Asked for each year
- 45,596
- homes, official housing target
- If that ran for thirty years
- 1.3 million
- homes if that target ran on
See it on the map
2,969 leftover sites. Watch the ones that cannot take the houses come off, a reason at a time, until 668 are left standing.
Look up your area
County and council totals from the live file, next to the housing target for that place.
Why those sites often cannot take the houses
Permission is not delivery
Planning permission is not the same as houses getting built.
Flood risk
A lot of Fen and coast plots sit on land that floods.
Nutrient neutrality
In the Broads, Wensum, Stour and Orwell catchments, new homes need mitigation first.
Contamination and cleanup
Cleaning old industrial land often costs more than the homes would sell for.
Housing cost
The extra costs get loaded onto the house price — or the site never happens.
Split ownership
Split titles and unknown owners leave sites sitting there.
Green Belt
A real constraint on a small share of leftover land, once you check the boundary.
No room for nature
Small leftover plots cannot fit the extra nature the law now requires.
Still needed for jobs
Some of this land is still needed for ports, depots and workplaces.
Questions people ask
- Is there enough brownfield land in the East of England to meet housing targets?
- No. The 2024 brownfield lists hold 132,338 homes-worth of leftover land. The official housing target for the East is 45,596 homes a year, or about 1.3 million over thirty years. The whole list is roughly three years of that target, before you take off flood, cleanup, cost and nature problems.
- Where does 132,338 come from?
- CPRE added up the 2024 council brownfield lists. This site also shows a live government file, which should be quoted with its own date.
- Are the map dots the actual sites?
- No. Councils publish one point per site, not a drawn boundary. Colours are a first screen, not a survey of each plot.