History

In recognition of the growing stock of derelict land within the Northwest, a partnership (led by the Northwest Regional Development Agency NWDA) was formed to review the areas of derelict land across the region and stimulate new and innovative approaches to reclaiming that land and bringing it back into active use.

This resulted in the report, 'Reclaim the Northwest', published in May 2001. Amongst other recommendations it called for a new programme of land reclamation that delivered economic, social and environmental outcomes; that added value to other strategic investment programmes; and that was flexible, driven by tools and not rules.

A subsequent survey of derelict, underused and neglected (DUN) land in England's Northwest (led by the Forestry Commission, 2002) identified more than 26,000 hectares of DUN land in the Northwest, across more than 3,800 sites. With around one quarter of all derelict land in England and Wales now known to be in the region, it was vital that strategic priorities - as reflected in the region's Regional Economic Strategy (RES) - were used to select sites for regeneration that would offer the highest levels of return on investment in social, economic and environmental terms.

Alongside the survey, PBRS was created by the Forestry Commission and the Northwest Regional Development Agency to help identify which sites might provide the greatest (combined) economic, social and environmental benefits. The tool was first used in the selection of sites for the region's pioneering 'Newlands' scheme, a 23 million pounds scheme to transform 435 hectares of derelict land across the region into thriving community woodlands that deliver true socio-economic and environmental benefit.

However, since this initial application, the PBRS has been used in a wide variety of projects in the Northwest and further afield, and has done much more than assess and identify the most viable brownfield sites, including:
An assessment of the cultural heritage of the Lake District for a World Heritage Site bid;
Providing an evidence base to inform the work of the Regional Rural Delivery Framework in the North West;
An assessment of public benefit potential of green infrastructure in the East Midlands;
An assessment of the social, economic and environmental potential of woodlands along the M6 corridor,
Informing the targeting of Forestry Commission's Woodland Improvement Grants;
Assessing the feasibility of a new community woodland in Leicester Shire.