Selling Land in Berkshire

Berkshire has had no county council since 1998. It is split into six unitary councils, each deciding its own planning applications and preparing its own local plan: Bracknell Forest, Reading, Slough, West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead, and Wokingham.

• Two councils below 75%. Slough delivered 54% of the homes it needed in the Housing Delivery Test 2025 and Windsor and Maidenhead delivered 74%. Both are treated as having evidenced unmet housing need under national policy.
• Four councils at or above target. Reading scored 136%, West Berkshire 114%, Bracknell Forest 104% and Wokingham 100%.
• Green Belt in the east. The Metropolitan Green Belt covers most of the countryside in Windsor and Maidenhead, the land around Slough, the north of Bracknell Forest and the north east of Wokingham borough. West Berkshire and Reading have none.
• The North Wessex Downs National Landscape covers a large part of West Berkshire, north and south of the Kennet valley.
• Protected heathland in the south east. The Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area affects new homes across Bracknell Forest, Wokingham and parts of Windsor and Maidenhead.

The Metropolitan Green Belt

East Berkshire sits within London's Green Belt. It keeps Maidenhead, Windsor, Slough and the villages between them apart, and separates Bracknell from Ascot. Since December 2024, land that does not strongly contribute to the Green Belt's purposes can be treated as grey belt, and new homes on it can be approved if they meet the Golden Rules on affordable housing, infrastructure and green space. The unmet need policy for councils below 75% does not apply in the Green Belt, but grey belt policy does. Our grey belt guide explains the test.

Thames Basin Heaths

The heaths around Crowthorne, Sandhurst and Bracknell are protected for ground-nesting birds. New homes within 400 metres of the protected area are normally refused. Between 400 metres and 5 kilometres, housing needs mitigation, in the form of Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG) and a payment towards managing visitors. For a landowner, this has two sides. It adds cost to a scheme, but land that could itself become SANG can be valuable to a developer who needs it.

The North Wessex Downs

The downland north of the Kennet and the hills south of Newbury towards Hampshire are within the North Wessex Downs National Landscape. National policy gives great weight to conserving its landscape and scenic beauty, and major development inside it is only allowed in exceptional circumstances. Land on the edge of Newbury and Thatcham that sits outside the boundary is usually more promising.

River Quality and Nutrients

West Berkshire council requires new homes in the River Lambourn and River Test catchments to be nutrient neutral, because both rivers are protected and in poor condition from excess phosphates. That means showing how a scheme's waste water will be dealt with and, where needed, buying mitigation. It adds cost and time to a scheme.

Flood Risk

The Thames runs the length of the county's northern and eastern edge. Datchet, Wraysbury, Old Windsor and parts of Maidenhead have flooded badly in the past, and the Jubilee River was built to take flood water around Maidenhead and Windsor. The Kennet, Loddon, Pang and Blackwater all have wide floodplains in places. Land in Flood Zones 2 and 3 faces the sequential test, though the developable part of a field can often be kept to Flood Zone 1. See our guide to flood risk and development land.

Other Constraints

Windsor Castle, Windsor Great Park and the historic cores of Eton, Cookham and Hungerford mean heritage settings come up often in east and west Berkshire. Land around the Atomic Weapons Establishment sites at Aldermaston and Burghfield falls within emergency planning zones where new housing is tightly controlled.

The route depends on which side of a council boundary your land is. In Slough and Windsor and Maidenhead, the unmet need position helps well-located land outside the Green Belt, and grey belt policy is the main test inside it. Elsewhere, the plan is the main route. In practice we look at:

1. Grey belt in east Berkshire. Paddocks, yards and fields that do little to keep towns apart can qualify, subject to the Golden Rules.
2. Local plan allocation. Wokingham's Local Plan Update and Reading's partial update are at examination, and every council will prepare new plans under the new system. Our guide to call for sites and local plans explains the stages.
3. Previously developed land. Old yards, depots and commercial sites, which national policy supports inside and outside settlements, including in the Green Belt.
4. Sites near stations. National policy now supports higher density homes within walking distance of well-connected stations. Whether it applies depends on the station and its service.
5. Land that can provide SANG. In the Thames Basin Heaths zone, open land that can become public green space can support a nearby housing scheme or form part of one.

Values in Berkshire are among the highest outside London, and developers will pay well for land that gets through. The work is in proving the case, and that is what our agreements pay for.