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Written Question
Green Belt: Conservation
Friday 23rd July 2021

Asked by: Joy Morrissey (Conservative - Beaconsfield)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that agricultural land on Green Belts is being preserved for agricultural purposes.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

Farming efficiently and improving the environment will be rewarded through our future farming policy. The Government recognises the need to protect the natural assets which are essential to the production of food in this country.

We regularly assess the effectiveness of environmental protections and work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to ensure that planning supports agriculture and food production as well as protecting and enhancing the environment. This is reflected in the National Planning Policy Framework. The Framework requires local planning authorities to take into account all the benefits of the best and most versatile agricultural land. Where significant development of agricultural land is shown to be necessary, planning authorities should seek to use poorer quality land in preference to that of a higher quality.

We are committed to protecting and enhancing the Green Belt, as set out in our manifesto, which is created by local authorities to prevent urban sprawl and the merging of settlements. Green Belt policy in the National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that open land is an essential characteristic of Green Belt, and that most new buildings in a Green Belt are inappropriate and should be refused planning permission unless justified by very special circumstances.


Written Question
Green Belt: Environment Protection
Friday 23rd July 2021

Asked by: Joy Morrissey (Conservative - Beaconsfield)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of special environmental protection for agricultural land in the Green Belt.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

Farming efficiently and improving the environment will be rewarded through our future farming policy. The Government recognises the need to protect the natural assets which are essential to the production of food in this country.

We regularly assess the effectiveness of environmental protections and work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to ensure that planning supports agriculture and food production as well as protecting and enhancing the environment. This is reflected in the National Planning Policy Framework. The Framework requires local planning authorities to take into account all the benefits of the best and most versatile agricultural land. Where significant development of agricultural land is shown to be necessary, planning authorities should seek to use poorer quality land in preference to that of a higher quality.

We are committed to protecting and enhancing the Green Belt, as set out in our manifesto, which is created by local authorities to prevent urban sprawl and the merging of settlements. Green Belt policy in the National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that open land is an essential characteristic of Green Belt, and that most new buildings in a Green Belt are inappropriate and should be refused planning permission unless justified by very special circumstances.


Written Question
Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty: Chilterns
Friday 23rd July 2021

Asked by: Joy Morrissey (Conservative - Beaconsfield)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of potential merits of expanding the Chilterns Area of National Beauty to include the areas of Colne Valley Regional Park and Burnham Beeches.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Natural England, the statutory advisor to the Government on landscape, announced in June 2021 an ambitious Landscape Designations Programme. This programme includes consideration of an extension of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

The proposal submitted to Natural England for consideration to extend the Chilterns AONB includes Burnham Beeches. Before any technical designation assessments are carried out,an evidence-based area of search will be agreed with partners. The purpose of agreeing an area of search is to ensure areas that are considered likely to meet the designation criteria are included in the assessments. Inclusion of the Colne Valley would be considered at the time of determining the area of search.


Written Question
Air Pollution: Health Hazards
Wednesday 2nd September 2020

Asked by: Joy Morrissey (Conservative - Beaconsfield)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will include a target date for implementing WHO air quality standards in the Environment Bill.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government is committed to tackling a diversity of pollutants which harm human health and the environment. We already have ambitious and statutory emission reduction ceilings in place for five key air pollutants, as well as legally binding concentration limits. However, the case for even more ambitious action on fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is especially strong, as it is the pollutant that has the most significant impact on health.

The Environment Bill establishes a legally binding duty to set a target for PM2.5, in addition to a long-term air quality target. We are committed to setting ambitious targets and following an evidence-based process, seeking advice from a range of experts, in addition to giving consideration to the World Health Organization’s air quality guidelines. The targets will be set in secondary legislation at the end of this process. It would not be an effective approach to policy making to commit in primary legislation to delivering a target, without giving due consideration to its achievability and the measures required to meet that target. Stakeholders, Parliament and the public will have the opportunity to comment on, and input into, the process of developing this target.