CPRE’s final State of Brownfield 2025 report estimated that land recorded by English local authorities could accommodate at least 1.41 million homes. That is an estimate of potential capacity, rather than homes under construction or a forecast of completions.
The countryside charity’s table records 27,200 sites covering 29,977 hectares, using the latest available register information up to 2024. Its minimum net dwelling figure is 1,412,148. This restored article uses those final published figures rather than the larger totals in the original imported report.
Of that estimated capacity, 772,013 potential homes had planning permission—about 55%. The report includes outline permission or better in its discussion. It does not establish that every home could immediately be completed, or that the remaining capacity already had consent.
CPRE uses the findings to argue for a stronger brownfield-first approach and better coordination of housing investment. That is the charity’s policy position. Its report also recognises that brownfield sites cannot meet every housing need, including some rural affordable-housing requirements.
Understanding the registers helps explain the figures. Government guidance says Part 1 lists previously developed sites assessed as appropriate for residential development. It can include land with full or outline permission alongside sites without planning permission.
Simply appearing in Part 1 does not grant permission in principle. Part 2 is a smaller group for which the authority has followed the required procedures to grant that form of consent. The guidance also requires registers to be reviewed at least annually.
The distinction matters when a national land total is discussed as a possible answer to housing shortages. A register provides evidence about land and its assessed capacity; it is not itself a construction programme.
For readers following development, the useful questions concern the individual site’s planning status and what stage it has reached. This September 2025 archive article reports the evidence from that period, not the number of homes subsequently built or the contents of a later annual report.