Selling Land in Redditch

• Fields on the southern edge of the town, towards Astwood Bank and Feckenham, where Green Belt purposes may be weaker.
• Land within or next to Astwood Bank, the village the plan leaves outside the Green Belt.
• Open countryside on the southern edge, beyond the Green Belt, that sits well against a road and a settlement.
• Underused sites near the town centre and around district centres such as Church Hill, Matchborough and Winyates.
• Yards, depots and former commercial plots with lawful buildings or hardstanding.
• Large gardens and paddocks inside the built-up area with a workable access.

Small sites are as welcome as large holdings, as our page on paddocks and small sites shows. Where a site has prospects, we agree a fixed price at the outset, above the land's current value, and pay for all the planning work. You keep using the land throughout, and should permission never come, the land stays yours with nothing owed. How it works sets out each stage.

• An outright sale. You sell the land as it stands today, privately or at auction. The price is what a buyer will pay for it without planning permission, and the buyer takes on everything that follows.
• A conditional contract. You agree a sale now, but it only completes if planning permission is granted. Until then you keep the land, and the agreement sets out who applies for permission and who pays.
• An option agreement, the route we use. We agree your price at the start, in writing, set above what your land is worth today. We then pay for and run all of the planning work, at our own cost and risk. If permission is granted, we complete the purchase and you receive the agreed price on completion. If it is not, you keep your land and owe nothing.

For land that needs planning permission before it is worth more, an option means you know your price before any work starts and never spend a penny on planning. The ways to sell land for development, compared sets out each route in full.

The Housing Delivery Test and the five-year supply test use different yardsticks. The government's test measured Redditch against a requirement of 457 homes across the three years from April 2022 to March 2025. The supply statement, by contrast, uses the standard method's figure of 497 homes for every single year, because the 2017 plan turned five on 30 January 2022 and its own requirement no longer applies to the test. The council's April 2025 supply report sets the calculation out:

The council has, in its own words, repeatedly disputed how the government's delivery test treats housing need that is met across the boundary, and the 2023 measurement put Redditch at 285%. Whatever the rights of that argument, it is the supply position, published by the council itself, that bites on applications.

What a Shortfall Does, and Does Not, Do Here

A supply short of five years is the usual evidence of unmet need for housing on grey belt land, so on the council's own figures that part of the grey belt test is likely to be met in Redditch today. The land must still qualify as grey belt and sit in a sustainable place, and larger schemes must meet the Golden Rules on affordable housing, infrastructure and green space. Policy S5 of the August 2026 framework, which treats a shortfall as evidence of unmet need for land well related to a settlement and served by infrastructure, does not apply in the Green Belt, so here it reaches only the open countryside outside it. Neither route is automatic.

The adopted plan ranks the borough's settlements in three tiers: the Redditch urban area first, then Astwood Bank, which is excluded from the Green Belt, and then Feckenham, a small village set largely within the Green Belt, where development is limited to locally identified needs. That order shapes the route for any piece of land:

1. Inside the town or Astwood Bank. Land within the built-up area falls under policy S4, which leans towards permission unless the harm would substantially outweigh what the scheme brings. The 2025 paper calls the town centre a highly sustainable location for homes, with underused sites that may come forward.
2. Green Belt land on the edge of the town. Grey belt is the test: whether the land contributes strongly to checking sprawl, keeping towns apart and protecting historic towns. If not, the shortfall supplies the need.
3. Previously developed land in the Green Belt. Yards, depots and plots carrying lawful non-agricultural buildings have their own route, whatever the housing numbers say.
4. Countryside beyond the Green Belt. The 2025 paper notes that land on the borough's southern edge outside the Green Belt is classed as open countryside, and offers growth there as an option. S5 can reach well related land here, although distance from services is the obvious question.

Sites of 11 or more homes carry 30% affordable housing under policy 6 of the adopted plan, and major Green Belt schemes the higher Golden Rules share, costs we allow for from the start. Our grey belt guide sets out the tests in full.

The council's plan timetable places Gateway 1, the formal start of the 30-month process, in October 2026 and now runs the plan to 2044. Next come:

The 2027 consultation should first signal which land the council favours.

The April 2025 Supply Report, and North Worcestershire on Hold

In September 2026 the council's monitoring page still listed the April 2025 report as its latest. We do not guess the next result. Above five years, the grey belt need argument would lose its main support and the plan would become the route for Green Belt land. If supply stays short, well placed land can still be tested by application while the plan is written.

Delivery is well clear of the thresholds. The Housing Delivery Test 2025 was released on 17 August 2026, with a new edition each year. At 129%, Redditch faces none of the test's consequences. A result below 95% would bring an action plan and one below 85% a 20% buffer on the supply calculation, which would widen the shortfall.

On 16 July 2026 the government decided that Redditch would join Bromsgrove and Wyre Forest in a North Worcestershire council from April 2028, as reported by the Bromsgrove Standard. A government review announced on 7 September 2026 put that on hold, and the Redditch Standard reported the county's programme paused. Next May's elections go ahead on today's boundaries. If a northern council does go ahead, the two authorities that share Foxlydiate and Brockhill would sit under one roof. Until anything changes, the borough council remains the body preparing the plan.

Town and Grey Belt Land Now, Green Belt Holdings for 2027

• Grey belt, previously developed land and sites inside the town can be looked at now, while the supply position stands as it does.
• Larger Green Belt holdings are best readied for the 2027 content and evidence consultation, through the open call for sites.
• Unsure where your land fits? A free desktop review from us settles it before anything else.