HIGHEST NUMBER OF COUNCILS TO RELEASE GREEN BELT IN THEIR LOCAL PLANS

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Figures produced by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government show that the highest number of Council since 2010/11 have released green belt in their local plans in 2018/19. Since 2010/11 there has been an overall increase in the number of authorities making changes to green belt boundaries, with 2018/19 at 13 being over four times higher than in 2010/11. The previous highest number of local authorities was in 2014/15 were 11 authorities released green belt.

Many are placing the blame for the increased release of green belt on the instigation of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) in 2012 and subsequent revisions. The Campaign to Protect Rural England alleges that while the NPPF encourages and promotes the use of brownfield land in the first instance this isn’t being put into practice. This is leaving a lot of brownfield land undeveloped while simultaneously the NPPF has set the bar too low for the exceptional circumstances required for the removal of green belt.

Others have identified the removal of the higher tier strategic planning layer as a cause for the increased release. The higher tier strategic planning formulated regional strategies and county-wide structure plans which placed restrictions on most green belt areas but at the same time designated other area for intensive growth. With the removal of this strategic layer and under the NPPF local authorities are expected to deal with their housing numbers themselves. This leads local authorities to resort to green belt reviews because they can’t meet their housing needs without them.

The NPPF however, does make clear that the Authority has to demonstrate that all other reasonable options for meeting their defined housing need have been examined, before the release of green belt. The release of green belt is a process by which Authorities turn to when they cannot accommodate housing anywhere else.

Importantly in actual size terms the release of green belt by these 13 local authorities between 2018 and 2019 has led to a decrease of 3,290 hectares, which represents 0.2% in the total area of English Green Belt. Additionally, the release of green belt by these 13 authorities is not as high as in 2017/18 when ten local authorities released green belt through their local plans.