Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the level of proposed development on Green Belt land in the Epping Forest District, and what steps his Department is taking to protect the Green Belt.

The government is committed to preserving Green Belts, which have served England’s towns and cities well over many decades. We have not changed the five purposes of the Green Belt set out in paragraph 143 of the National Planning Policy Framework. The Framework still contains strong protections for the Green Belt, making it clear that inappropriate development should not be approved unless justified by very special circumstances.

It is for local planning authorities themselves, including Epping Forest District Council, to determine whether exceptional circumstances exist that justify the release of Green Belt, and we expect them to first demonstrate that they have examined fully all other reasonable options for meeting identified need for development – including making as much use as possible of suitable brownfield sites and underutilised land, optimising the density of development, and working with neighbouring authorities to assess whether identified need might be sensibly accommodated.