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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to fulfil their Manifesto commitment to protect and enhance the green belt.

In revising the National Planning Policy Framework we re-affirmed the protections for Green Belt. Under the strengthened “exceptional circumstances” test - applied if a local authority is considering adjustment of a Green Belt boundary – the authority is expected to show evidenced justification that it has examined all other reasonable options for meeting its development needs, and that Green Belt release is a last resort.

The Framework also expects development plans to set out ways in which the impact of removing land from Green Belt will be offset by compensatory improvements to access and environmental quality in the rest of the Green Belt.