Selling Land in Bracknell Forest

Under policy S5 of the August 2026 framework, homes beyond a settlement's limits can be supported where there is evidence of unmet need, the land is well related to the settlement and the roads, schools and drainage can cope. A supply short of five years counts as that evidence, but it is weighed, not assumed. In Bracknell Forest each field sits in one of three positions:

1. Outside the Green Belt and beyond 400 metres of the heaths. Here S5 does most. A field that reads as part of the edge of Bracknell, Crowthorne, Sandhurst or Owlsmoor, with safe access and room for heathland mitigation, now has evidenced need behind it.
2. In the Green Belt to the north and east. S5 does not apply there. Homes on grey belt land still need evidence that the need for them is unmet, and a supply below five years is the usual way of showing it, so the grey belt route is more open here than the council's delivery result alone suggests.
3. Within 400 metres of the heaths. The council's guidance sets a presumption against any net increase in homes there, whatever the supply position.

A Lesson From Warfield

A shortfall is not a guarantee. In 2022, when the council could show 4.44 years, inspectors dismissed two appeals at Warfield for 32 and 197 homes. The inspector on the larger scheme called it a development in the wrong place, divorced from the existing urban area, and the report suggests landscape and visual harm was decisive, although the land was neither a valued landscape nor subject to any designation. Sites that succeed sit naturally against the town. Our grey belt guide covers how Green Belt purposes are judged.

The Thames Basin Heaths are protected for ground-nesting birds, the nightjar, woodlark and Dartford warbler, and the council's supplementary planning document, adopted on 8 May 2025, sets out what new homes must do:

Smaller schemes usually pay towards one of the council's strategic SANGs, such as Englemere Pond, Horseshoe Lake, Shepherd Meadows or Buckler's. For a market three-bedroom home the 2025 guidance sets the SANG contribution at £6,712. The council says it cannot guarantee that every development site can be accommodated, and that it will prioritise its SANG capacity in line with its strategic objectives.

Why This Can Work in a Landowner's Favour

The guidance expects that only larger developments, of 109 homes or more, will be able to provide their own SANG. A SANG of 20 hectares or more serves homes within 5 kilometres, smaller ones less, and each needs room for a circular walk of at least 2.3 kilometres. Our farmland page explains how we look at larger holdings.

The Next Supply Statement

Since December 2024 national policy has asked for the supply to be updated every year, as the council's January 2025 statement notes, so the next one would normally measure from 1 April 2027. While the 20% buffer applies, the requirement stays higher than the plan alone would set.

The Next Delivery Test

The Housing Delivery Test 2025 came out on 17 August 2026, and a new edition follows each year. At 104% none of its consequences applies. The next edition should drop 2022/23, when the council's supply note records 437 completions, and add 2025/26. We make no forecast. Falling under 95% would oblige the council to write an action plan, falling under 85% would give a second reason for the 20% buffer it already applies, and falling under 75% would mean S5 takes unmet need as proven.

A New Plan by 2030

The council's Local Development Scheme for 2025 to 2028 schedules scoping and early participation for a new Local Plan in 2026/27, including a call for sites, then the first gateway assessment in autumn 2027, consultations in winter and spring 2028 and spring 2029, submission in autumn 2029 and adoption in spring 2030. Dates are the council's and may move. Our guide to call for sites and local plans explains why the earliest stage is the one to be ready for.

March 2029

The plan turns five on 19 March 2029. The special 20% buffer tied to recent plans then falls away, and the government's standard method replaces the 614 a year as the yardstick. On today's 787 with a 5% buffer, that yardstick would be higher than the 643 a year used now, so the change alone would not close the gap.

No Reorganisation, a Possible Mayor

Bracknell Forest is already a unitary council and remains the planning authority. In January 2026 it confirmed all-out elections for May 2027 and described talks on a Thames Valley mayoral strategic authority, with other Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Swindon councils, as work at a higher, strategic level.

What This Means for Timing

• Land outside the Green Belt and clear of the 400 metre zone, and grey belt land, is best looked at now, while the shortfall stands.
• Land that needs the new plan should be ready for the call for sites.