The Town and Country Planning (Brownfield Land Register) Regulations 2017 require councils to produce a register of brownfield land. Registers are produced in two parts: the first sets out all the brownfield sites that are suitable, available and achievable for housing development (according to specific criteria). A second, non-mandatory, part can be produced which gives permission in principle to sites included on it. The government has prepared guidance for brownfield registers. This data is provided under the Open Government Licence.
Dorset Council published its first Brownfield Land Register on 1 April 2020. The Brownfield Land Register was updated on 1 April 2023 and published October 2025.
Database and mapping
The Brownfield Register has also been integrated with the Council SHLAA and is available as a live database and as GIS interactive mapping. These are:
- within the live database, brownfield sites (All Brownfield or Brownfield Land Part 1 & 2) can be selected using the brownfield dropdown
- through the GIS interactive mapping, Brownfield sites – Part 1 can be selected under Layers Tab (on the right-hand side), Planning Public, Strategic land availability assessments, Brownfield
Please note that there will be a slight delay for the mapping layer to be updated, this work is estimated to be completed in November 2025.