Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 7 June (HL272), what are the National Planning Policy Framework guidelines about what constitutes an exceptional circumstance that necessitates building on Green Belt land.
Green belts are created and protected by local authorities in line with national policy set out in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). A Green Belt boundary can only be altered where there are exceptional circumstances and only by means of the Local Plan process of public consultation and independent examination.
We do not define exceptional circumstances as these can vary from instance to instance. The NPPF however does outline that exceptions in regards to the construction of new buildings in the Green Belt may include: