Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the (a) percentage and (b) area of (i) grey belt land within the green belt and (ii) green belt land that is grey belt.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department does not hold the requested information.
It is for individual local planning authorities to undertake the necessary assessments to identify if land is grey belt, either through plan making or through considering specific applications that come forward.
Similarly, it is for authorities to determine whether and how to evidence, justify, amend, and set out Green Belt boundaries through the preparation or updating of statutory plans.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 15 September 2025 to Question 71482 on Green Belt: Planning Permission, whether the Planning Inspectorate holds information on decisions made in relation to green belt land since December 2024.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Planning Inspectorate does hold information on decisions made in relation to green belt land.
This information is released under management information in our Casework Database which can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2025 to Question 61248 on Green Belt: Maps, if he will list the local authorities that have received funding.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has provided 133 local planning authorities with £70,000 of pump priming funding each to contribute towards the costs of carrying out Green Belt reviews in their areas.
Eligible local authorities submitted an Expression of Interest (EOI) form requesting a share of this funding. The EOIs were reviewed, and funding has been awarded.
Further details, along with a list of successful local authorities, can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 26 March 2025 to Question 40156 on Green Belt, whether allotments are deemed to be Grey Belt land.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department published updated guidance on Green Belt policy on 27 February 2025 to assist local authorities and other decision-makers in determining whether land is grey belt. It can be found on gov.uk here.
It is for decision-makers to consider how to apply this to particular local circumstances and assess whether a site constitutes grey belt, as it will depend upon the circumstances of each case. The government does not maintain a definitive list of land uses or categories which constitute grey belt land.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information his department holds on the (a) amount of green belt that has been de-designated and (b) number of developments that have been built on green belt land since the publication of the revised National Planning Policy Framework in December 2024.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As part of our annual Green Belt release, my Department published the extent of England’s Green Belt as at 31 March 2025. It can be found on gov.uk here.
These statistics give the area of land designated as Green Belt by local authority in England, and also provide details on each local authority who made changes to their Green Belt between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025. Data is collected by financial year.
Figures for 2025-26 will be published in our next release at the end of 2026.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what research his Department has commissioned on (a) land value capture and (b) land valuation taxation since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In summer 2024, my Department commissioned the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) to provide a viability study to support proposals for new ‘Golden Rules’ for Green Belt development. These proposals were set out in the consultation on proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and other changes to the planning system, published in July 2024. The revised NPPF and a response to the public consultation was published in December 2024.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to support the development of solar power infrastructure in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Solar is at the heart of the Government’s clean energy mission, and we are taking steps to support rapid deployment.
In green-belt areas like Surrey Heath, solar infrastructure is more likely to be found on rooftops than in fields. Permitted development rights mean that the vast majority of rooftop projects no longer require an application for planning permission. New building standards will ensure that most new houses will be built with solar panels. We recently conducted a call for evidence about solar canopies in car parks. £13.2bn has been allocated to the Warm Homes Plan, to help people with the upfront costs of energy efficiency improvements, such as rooftop solar.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2025 to Question 61248 on Green Belt: Maps, whether local authorities will be required to publish a map of grey belt areas within their areas during the local plan process.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
It is for individual local planning authorities to undertake the necessary assessments to identify if land is grey belt, either through plan making or through considering specific applications that come forward.
Similarly, it is for authorities to determine whether and how to evidence, justify, amend, and set out Green Belt boundaries through the preparation or updating of statutory plans.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to help strengthen enforcement powers for councils to prevent unauthorised development on Green Belt land.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Enforcement is at the discretion of local planning authorities. They have a wide range of powers with strong penalties for non-compliance and it is for them to decide how and when they use those powers depending on the circumstances of each case.
The government has no plans to amend local planning authorities’ enforcement powers at this time. We will, however, continue to keep the operation of the enforcement system under review.
With regard to capacity and capability, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to question UIN 67508 on 14 July 2025.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
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 her Department has made of the potential merits of introducing immediate stop notices with penalties for breaches to help reduce cases of members of the travelling community developing on Green Belt land.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Enforcement is at the discretion of local planning authorities. They have a wide range of powers with strong penalties for non-compliance and it is for them to decide how and when they use those powers depending on the circumstances of each case.
The government has no plans to amend local planning authorities’ enforcement powers at this time. We will, however, continue to keep the operation of the enforcement system under review.
With regard to capacity and capability, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to question UIN 67508 on 14 July 2025.