Found: and preferred, instead, to rely on existing mostly greenfield site allocations or to identify new Green

Found: Green belt of low quality could be opened up for development if it leads to ecological gains .

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following reports of stabilisation and growth in the housing market, what steps they are taking to ensure that this translates into an increased housing supply, particularly in areas facing housing shortages.

Answered by Baroness Swinburne - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

Housebuilding is a priority for this Government, and we are on track to meet our manifesto commitment to deliver one million homes over this Parliament. In December, the revised National Planning Policy Framework was published, making clear that a core purpose of the planning system is planning for the homes and other development that our communities need. With both the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act and the new Framework now in place, alongside the additional resources for planning departments the Government has recently announced, our planning reforms will accelerate the delivery of new homes.

We are spending billions to support housebuilding, including through our £1 billion Brownfield Infrastructure and Land Fund and our £1.5 billion Levelling Up Homebuilding Fund (LUHBF). We have scaled up the delivery of affordable housing by investing £11.5 billion through the Affordable Homes Programme, which will provide thousands of new homes for rent and sale across the country.

In February, we announced that we are consulting on a range of new measures to boost housebuilding while protecting the Green Belt, through strengthening planning support for brownfield housing development. Legislation was also laid to extend current permitted development rights to support the conversion of commercial buildings of any size into new homes, and we announced an expansion of the ENABLE Build scheme to increase availability of SME finance to the sector.

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Answer of 11 March 2024 to Questions 16908, 16909, 16910, 16911, 16912, 16913 and 16914, and the Answer of 15 March to Questions 18292, 18293, 18294, 18295 and 18296, if he will make an assessment of whether those responses are consistent with the requirements (a) in the Ministerial Code that Ministers should be as open as possible with parliament and the public, refusing to provide information only when disclosure would not be in the public interest and (b) in the Guidance on drafting answers to parliamentary questions.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

As I have previously outlined, the most up to date and comprehensive information on the changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement and the revised published framework, which is what I referred the Hon Member to.

The purpose of the NPPF is to create a consistent and understood framework for development within an industry that emphasises the importance of certainty and clarity. It is, by definition, the stated position of the Government for that very reason. If the Government has further detail it wishes to impart, it will do so in the usual way.

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to help support people to submit objections to planning proposals for (a) the proposed installation of solar farms near Overton, Wooley and Kirkburton and (b) other proposed renewable energy projects on the green belt.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

This Government is committed to protecting and enhancing the Green Belt. Our National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that structures that spoil the openness of Green Belt should be refused permission unless in very special circumstances.

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 11 March 2024 to Question 16914 on Green Belt: Planning Permission and with reference to the consultation entitled Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill: reforms to national planning policy, published on 22 December 2022, and paragraph 35(a) of the National Planning Policy Framework, published in December 2023, if he will publish the justification for not incorporating the words 'Green Belt boundaries are not required to be reviewed and altered if this would be the only means of meeting the objectively assessed need for housing over the plan period' in that Framework.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 16908 on 11 March 2024.

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 11 March 2024 to Question 16908 on Green Belt: Planning Permission and with reference to the revisions made to the National Planning Policy Framework on 19 December 2023 and the Written Ministerial Statement of 19 December 2023 on The Next Stage in Our Long Term Plan for Housing Update, HCWS161, if he will publish specific guidance clarifying whether local authorities being located wholly within the green belt can represent an exceptional circumstance to justify an alternative approach to using the standard method calculation when assessing housing need for the purposes of making a local plan.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 16908 on 11 March 2024.

We want the Government to ban wind farm onshore asset development on green belt land. We don't think local authorities are enforcing the National Planning Policy Framework to protect the greenbelt from inappropriate development.

Found: Ban wind farm onshore asset development on green belt land

Found: Green Belt (Protection) Bill [AS INTRODUCED] CONTENTS 1 National register of green belt land

Found: The effect of the proposal on the openness of the Green Belt; 16.

Found: Belt Boundary • SADM24 Key Green Belt Sites • SADM26 Development Standards in the Green Belt •

Found: Green Belt 17.

Found: Green Belt 23.

Found: Local authority Green Belt statistics 2023-24

Found: raises very controversial local issues like inappropriate and / or unauthorised development in the Green