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:

• buildings for agriculture and forestry;
• provision of appropriate facilities for outdoor sport and recreation and for cemeteries as long as it preserves the openness of the Green Belt and does not conflict with the purposes of including land within it;
• the extension or alteration of a building provided that it does not result in disproportionate additions over and above the size of the original building;
• limited infilling in villages, and limited affordable housing for local community needs under policies set out in the Local Plan.