Local authority green belt: England 2024-25 - statistical release
Published 9 October 2025
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2025
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/local-authority-green-belt-statistics-for-england-2024-to-2025/local-authority-green-belt-england-2024-25-statistical-release
1. Main points
- The extent of land designated as Green Belt in England as at 31 March 2025 was estimated at 1,633,220 hectares, around 12.5% of the land area of England.
- Overall there was a decrease of 660 hectares in the area of land designated as Green Belt between 31 March 2024 and 31 March 2025. This is a decrease of 0.04% compared to the Green Belt as at 31 March 2024, and this decrease has the equivalent area of 0.01% of England.
- In 2024-25, 6 local authorities adopted local plans involving changes to the Green Belt, with the result being a net decrease of 650 hectares in the overall area of land designated as Green Belt compared to 31 March 2024.
- In addition, updates to the local authority district (mean high water mark) boundaries resulted in a net decrease of 10 hectares in the area of land designated as Green Belt.
2. Context
England has a land area of just under 13,046,440 hectares[footnote 1] of which 9% is of developed use[footnote 2] with around 11% being classified as ‘built-up’[footnote 3]. When including land designated as Green Belt, just over 37% of the area of England (4.9 million hectares) is protected against development by one or more protected area. ‘Protected areas’ for these purposes include land designated as Green Belt, and the protected areas and land designations identified by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee.
The National Planning Policy Framework states the government attaches great importance to Green Belts. The fundamental aim of Green Belt policy is to prevent urban sprawl by keeping land permanently open; the essential characteristics of Green Belts are their openness and their permanence.
Green Belt serves 5 purposes:
- to check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas;
- to prevent neighbouring towns merging into one another;
- to assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment;
- to preserve the setting and special character of historic towns; and
- to assist in urban regeneration, by encouraging the recycling of derelict and other urban land.
Once Green Belts have been defined, local planning authorities should plan positively to enhance their beneficial use, such as looking for opportunities to provide access; to provide opportunities for outdoor sport and recreation; to retain and enhance landscapes, visual amenity and biodiversity; or to improve damaged and derelict land.
Once established, Green Belt boundaries should only be altered where exceptional circumstances are fully evidenced and justified, through the preparation or updating of plans. Strategic policies should establish the need for any changes to Green Belt boundaries, having regard to their intended permanence in the long term, so they can endure beyond the plan period. Where a need for changes to Green Belt boundaries has been established through strategic policies, detailed amendments to those boundaries may be made through non-strategic policies, including neighbourhood plans.
Inappropriate development is, by definition, harmful to the Green Belt and should not be approved except in very special circumstances.
When considering any planning application, local planning authorities should ensure that substantial weight is given to any harm to the Green Belt. ‘Very special circumstances’ will not exist unless the potential harm to the Green Belt by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm resulting from the proposal, is clearly outweighed by other considerations.
The government published a revised edition of the National Planning Policy Framework in December 2024, which included new requirements to review Green Belt to identify grey belt land where development needs cannot otherwise be met. This release does not provide estimates on the amount of Green Belt that has been identified as grey belt. Views on how we could usefully incorporate grey belt statistics in future releases are welcomed and can be sent to planning.statistics@communities.gov.uk.
Statistical information is also available on land designated as Green Belt and other land designations within our interactive dashboard.
2.1 Related publications
It is useful to consider this statistical release alongside other statistical releases published by the department. The Land use statistical release provides a breakdown of land uses within the Green Belt at local authority level.[footnote 4]
The Land use change statistics provide information on the proportion of new residential addresses created within the Green Belt and the previous use of the land on which the new residential addresses were created, also at local authority level. Land use change in terms of hectarage is also available within the Green Belt.[footnote 5]
3. Extent of the Green Belt as at 31 March 2025
The extent of land designated as Green Belt in England as at 31 March 2025 is shown in Map 1, below. It was estimated at 1,633,220 hectares, around 12.5% of the land area of England. A regional breakdown of the number of hectares designated as Green Belt and the proportion of the total regional land area designated as Green Belt is shown below in Table 1.
The table shows the South East has the largest area of land designated as Green Belt with 304,250 hectares, followed by the West Midlands with 264,500 and Yorkshire and The Humber with 260,470 hectares. Out of the nine regions, London has the smallest area of land designated as Green Belt with 34,780 hectares but has the highest proportion of its total land area designated as Green Belt with 22.1%. The region with the smallest percentage of its land designated as Green Belt is the South West with 107,950 hectares, accounting for only 4.5% of its total land area.
Table 1: Regional breakdown of Green Belt land
| Region | Green Belt area (hectares) | Percentage of total regional land area designated as Green Belt |
|---|---|---|
| England | 1,633,220 | 12.5 |
| East Midlands | 77,410 | 4.9 |
| East of England | 233,670 | 12.2 |
| London | 34,780 | 22.1 |
| North East | 98,540 | 11.5 |
| North West | 251,630 | 17.8 |
| South East | 304,250 | 15.9 |
| South West | 107,950 | 4.5 |
| West Midlands | 264,500 | 20.3 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 260,470 | 16.9 |
Note: hectarage figures are rounded to the nearest 10 hectares.
Map 1: Extent of Green Belt as at 31 March 2025
3.1 Urban core areas
Land designated as Green Belt is distributed around 16 urban cores. These are mapped using the dark yellow areas in Map 1 and are listed in Table 4 which also shows the area of land associated with each urban core. The Metropolitan Green Belt (London) is the largest area of Green Belt surrounding an urban core and accounts for 31.1% of England’s total Green Belt area.
The ‘Area by LA’ table in the accompanying tables shows estimates of the area of land designated as Green Belt within each of the 177 local authorities (out of 296 local authorities) that had some land designated as Green Belt as at 31 March 2025. The ‘Change in area by LA’ table in the accompanying tables compares estimates as at 31 March 2025 with the revised estimates as at 31 March 2024 by local authority.
4. Net changes
Overall, there was a decrease of 660 hectares (0.04%) in the area of land designated as Green Belt in England between 31 March 2024 and 31 March 2025.
In 2024-25, 6 local authorities adopted new Green Belt boundaries, resulting in a net decrease of 650 hectares in the overall area of land designated as Green Belt compared to 31 March 2024. The changes are set out in Table 2. There may be discrepancies between individual figures due to rounding, with all figures rounded to the nearest ten hectares.
Table 2: Local authorities which adopted new boundaries for designated land as Green Belt 2024-25[footnote 6]
| Local authority | Area of designated Green Belt land 31 March 2024 (hectares) | Area of designated Green Belt land 31 March 2025 (hectares) | Change from 31 March 2024 (hectares) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barking and Dagenham | 530 | 530 | 0 (-0.2%) |
| Barnet | 2,380 | 2,390 | 10 (0.2%) |
| Dartford | 4,100 | 4,090 | 0 (-0.04%) |
| Dorset | 24,460 | 24,440 | -20 (-0.1%) |
| Mole Valley | 19,630 | 19,510 | -120 (-0.6%) |
| York | 22,400 | 21,890 | -510 (-2.3%) |
Note: hectarage figures are rounded to the nearest 10 hectares
Of the 6 local authorities reporting changes to their Green Belt, 5 had a net decrease. York had the largest net change with a net decrease of 510 hectares, decreasing the size of the authority’s Green Belt by 2.3%. Barnet had a net increase of 10 hectares, an increase of 0.2%.
In recent years, about ten local authorities have made changes to land designated as Green Belt each year, albeit with the figure varying between years. Local authorities making changes to their Green Belt provide explanations for the changes on their Annual Green Belt (AGB) return. These explanations are reviewed and supplemented by the Department where necessary and are available within Annex A.
Updates made to the local authority district (mean high water mark) boundaries resulted in a net decrease of 10 hectares in the area of land designated as Green Belt.
Table 3 shows the net charge reported for each year from 2013-14, broken down into changes resulting from designation policies and resulting from changes to digital boundaries. The figures reflect subsequent revisions made to the figures to improve accuracy.
Table 3: National summary of net changes to land designated as Green Belt
| Year | Number of local authorities changing their Green Belt | Net change from local authority designation policies (hectares) | Net change from local authority digital boundary (hectares) | Total net change (hectares) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-14 | 3 | -540 | 0 | -540 |
| 2014-15 | 11 | -1,890 | 0 | -1,890 |
| 2015-16 | 8 | -1,070 | 40 | -1,030 |
| 2016-17 | 8 | -1,190 | 10 | -1,180 |
| 2017-18 | 10 | -6,090 | -20 | -6,110 |
| 2018-19 | 13 | -3,850 | 0 | -3,850 |
| 2019-20 | 15 | -3,220 | -350 | -3,570 |
| 2020-21 | 11 | -1,760 | 10 | -1,750 |
| 2021-22 | 14 | 24,580 | 0 | 24,580 |
| 2022-23 | 10 | 750 | -10 | 740 |
| 2023-24 | 15 | -4,440 | 10 | -4,430 |
| 2024-25 | 6 | -650 | -10 | -660 |
Note: hectarage figures are rounded to the nearest 10 hectares
5. Revisions to 2023-24 estimates
Revisions are made each year to the published estimates for the previous year in order to accurately calculate the net change in Green Belt area. The revised Green Belt in England as at 31 March 2024 is estimated at 1,633,870 hectares. This is a decrease of 890 hectares on the previous estimate of 1,634,760 hectares published in December 2024.
Three authorities reported revisions with 2 of the 3 changes being due to applying the Department’s single standard national methodology to the local authority-held figures. The other local authority was South Oxfordshire, whose revision included changes made to Green Belt land in their 2035 local plan. This was adopted in December 2020 but was not reported by the local authority previously and so not recorded in our previous releases.
A summary of the scale of revisions over the preceding statistical releases, is available under the ‘Revisions policy’ heading in the Technical Notes.
6. Longer-term changes
Statistics on the area of Green Belt are available back to 1997, in the ‘Area since 1997 – England’ table of the accompanying tables. Figures are, however, available on a consistent basis only from 2007, following the designation of 47,300 hectares of Green Belt land as part of the New Forest National Park in 2005. Those from 31 March 2021 are set out in Table 4, broken down by urban core.
Table 4: Trend in the area of land designated as Green Belt as at 31 March since 2013-14
| Urban core | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | 1,612,980 | 1,637,560 | 1,638,310 | 1,633,870 | 1,633,220 |
| Bath and Bristol | 71,650 | 71,650 | 71,640 | 71,640 | 71,640 |
| Birmingham | 226,870 | 226,840 | 226,600 | 226,610 | 226,610 |
| Blackpool | 2,510 | 2,510 | 2,500 | 2,500 | 2,500 |
| Burton-upon-Trent and Swadlincote | 720 | 720 | 720 | 720 | 720 |
| Cambridge | 26,090 | 26,090 | 26,090 | 26,090 | 26,090 |
| Carnforth, Lancaster and Morecambe | 1,540 | 1,540 | 1,540 | 1,540 | 1,540 |
| Cheltenham and Gloucester | 6,190 | 6,190 | 6,190 | 6,190 | 6,190 |
| Derby and Nottingham | 59,900 | 59,900 | 59,900 | 59,910 | 59,910 |
| London | 507,930 | 506,040 | 508,520 | 508,200 | 508,080 |
| Merseyside and Greater Manchester | 249,120 | 248,650 | 247,630 | 245,020 | 245,020 |
| Oxford | 34,460 | 34,460 | 34,460 | 33,570 | 33,570 |
| South West Hampshire | 34,650 | 35,100 | 35,100 | 35,100 | 35,090 |
| South and West Yorkshire | 247,220 | 246,980 | 246,490 | 245,870 | 245,870 |
| Stoke-on-Trent | 44,380 | 44,380 | 44,410 | 44,400 | 44,400 |
| Tyne and Wear | 71,790 | 98,560 | 98,550 | 98,550 | 98,540 |
| York | 27,950 | 27,950 | 27,950 | 27,950 | 27,440 |
Note: figures are rounded to the nearest 10 hectares
Figures (in this publication) have been revised since the original estimates were published.
7. Accompanying tables and spatial boundary files
Additional tables, on total area and changes to land designated as Green Belt (annual), are available to download alongside this release. The tables are as follows:
| Table name | Table description |
|---|---|
| Area by LA | Land designated as Green belt - area by local authority as at 31 March 2025 |
| Change in area by LA | Change in Green Belt area between 31 March 2024 and 31 March 2025 |
| Area since 1997 | Area of Green Belt land since 1997, England |
| Area by PCON | Land designated as Green belt - area by parliamentary constituency as used for the July 2024 General Election using data at 31 March 2025. |
| Land designations by LA | Land designated as Green Belt and other designations including National Parks, National Landscapes (previously known as areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty) and Sites of Special Scientific Interest - area by local authority as at 31 March 2025 |
| Area by LA 1997 to 2024-25 | Designated Green Belt land - area by local authority from 1997 to 31 March 2025 |
| Green belt Interactive Dashboard | An interactive dashboard comprising statistical information on land designated as Green Belt and other land designations is also available on the Green Belt statistics landing page. |
In addition, spatial data files setting out Green Belt area boundaries are available at https://data.gov.uk/.
8. Uses of the data
The local authority Green Belt spatial boundaries, collected as part of this release are used in the preparation of other statistical releases published by MHCLG. The Land Use Change Statistics[footnote 5] (LUCS) use the Green Belt boundaries to determine the proportion of new residential addresses created within the Green Belt, and the previous land use those addresses were created on. The Land Use[footnote 4] statistics use the Green Belt boundaries to calculate proportions of various land use classes within the Green Belt.
The summary statistics for the Land Use Change statistics and the Land Use statistics within land designated as Green Belt are as follows:
- In 2021-22, 2% of new residential addresses created were within the Green Belt. This is unchanged from the 2020-21.
- In 2021-22, 51% of new residential addresses created within the Green Belt were built on previously developed land. This is an increase on the 47% recorded in 2020-21.
- In 2022, 6.8% of land designated as Green Belt in England is of developed use with 93.1% of land of non-developed use.
- Of land designated as Green Belt, 0.3% is of a residential use with residential gardens accounting for a further 2.9%.
Detailed statistics on changes within the Green Belt can also be found in the Land use change live tables, numbers P310, P311 and P380 to P383.
Detailed statistics on land uses within the Green Belt can also be found in the Land use in England 2022 live tables P401a and P401b.
Green Belt statistics are often quoted alongside statistics for other designations. These designations are often considered constraints on development with the statistics providing the amount of land ‘protected’ against development.
The Green Belt boundaries and statistics are closely aligned with local plans and local planning. The Green Belt boundaries were used to help determine Local Housing Need numbers and feed into a number of other related housing and development related projects.
8.1 Annex A: explanation of changes in 2024-25
Local authorities making changes to their Green Belt provide explanations for the changes on their AGB return, for which the guidance notes encourage them to include references to their Local Plan. These explanations are presented here for users’ information, with some minor amendments for clarity only. If any figures within these explanations differ from the statistics, we advise users to use the statistics because they are produced using a consistent methodology for processing the data provided by local authorities.
Barking and Dagenham
A small amount of Green Belt land in Eastbrookend Country Park is being released through the Local Plan process to allow for future delivery of a proposed extension to the current site to help meet the needs of our Gypsy and Traveller community. This is set out in further detail in Policies DMH 6, SP 6 and DMNE 1 of the LBBD Local Plan 2037 (adopted 18 September 2024).
The 2016 Green Belt Review identified that a small amount of land in Beam Valley Country Park was developed under an approved planning application from 1996 for residential development and recommended removal from the green belt. The developed area was removed from the Green Belt through the Local Plan process to provide a more appropriate boundary as the developed land does not service a strategic function of the green belt.
Barnet
As per Paragraph 10.24.3 of the Barnet Local Plan (adopted 4 March 2025), a Green Belt and Metropolitan Open Land (MOL) Study identified mapping irregularities with regard to land designated as Green Belt / MOL. Minor adjustments have been made to Green Belt and MOL boundaries where inconsistencies and errors have been identified. The majority of these are mapping errors where the boundary did not match existing property or road boundaries. These adjustments are reflected on the Policies Map.
Dartford
Paragraph 5.113 (p168) of the Dartford Plan (adopted 22 April 2024) relates to Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Accommodation. It states: “The Council considers that there are exceptional circumstances to justify releasing land in the Green Belt to meet these needs, including due to the origin and specific nature of needs in the Borough, the unavailability of non-Green Belt land and the acute need for additional pitches. In this respect, three deliverable sites have been identified that can accommodate 12 pitches to meet needs of gypsies and travellers as set out in Table 9 below. These are identified in the policy and on the Policies Map, and removed from the Green Belt. This enables all the sites with temporary gypsy and traveller pitch permission at present in the Borough to make permanent provision.”
Dorset
As per Policy V2 of the Purbeck Local Plan (adopted 18 July 2024), ‘green belt boundaries have been amended at Lytchett Matravers and Upton to support sustainable development. The impact of removing land from the green belt must be offset with the creation of suitable alternative natural greenspace (SANG) at Lytchett Matravers.’
Mole Valley
As per policy S1 (p20) from the Mole Valley Local Plan 2020-2039 (adopted 15 October 2024), “the Council has adopted the following spatial strategy: released sites which were modest contributors to the objectives of the Green Belt for housing around the built up areas of Ashtead, Bookham, Dorking and Leatherhead; released sites which were modest contributors to the objectives of the Green Belt for housing within and around Hookwood to complement the economic growth point of the Gatwick area; developed policy and amended Green Belt boundaries to permit appropriate development in the villages inset from the Green Belt, namely Beare Green, Brockham, Capel, Charlwood, and Westcott.”
Minor changes to the detailed Green Belt boundaries were also implemented, given previous mapping errors, development, and other changes in circumstances since the Green Belt was last reviewed. The examining Inspector concluded in her report the reasons for these changes were justified as they ensure that the Green Belt boundaries use physical features that are readily recognisable and likely to be permanent in accordance with national policy.
York
The general extent of York’s Green Belt was established in the Regional Strategy for Yorkshire and Humber (2008). Whilst the RSS was otherwise revoked, its York Green Belt policies were saved together with the key diagram insofar as the latter illustrated those policies and the general extent of the Green Belt around York. The revocation order stated that the detailed boundaries of the outstanding sections of the outer boundary of the York Green Belt, about 6 miles from York city centre, and the inner boundary, were to be defined in the authority’s Development Plan in order to establish long term development limits that safeguard the special character and setting of the historic city.
The City of York Local Plan was adopted on 27 February 2025. York’s new Local Plan 2017-2033 (2025) introduces, for the first time, an inner boundary around the city itself; an outer boundary; boundaries around some settlements, and other establishments, insetting them rather than having them ‘washed over’; and boundaries around sites proposed for development as part of the Plan. The boundaries predominantly follow the urban edge and land required to meet housing and employment needs in urban / village extensions as well as insetting free standing settlements, with the remaining countryside identified as Green Belt. This is supported in the Local Plan spatial strategy in Policy SS2: ‘The Role of York’s Green Belt’ wherein it states that “The primary purpose of the Green Belt is to safeguard the setting and the special character of York and delivering the Local Plan Spatial Strategy…To ensure that there is permanence beyond the plan period sufficient land is allocated for development to meet the needs identified in the plan and for a further minimum period of five years to 2038.”
Prior to the adoption of the defined Green Belt boundaries, we submitted the extent of a draft boundary for the purposes of the Green Belt return. The changes recorded in this years return to the extent (hectares) of Green Belt therefore represents the difference between the draft boundaries and defined Green Belt area adopted in 2025.
9. Technical notes
Please see the accompanying technical notes document for further details.
10. Enquiries
Date of next release: October 2026
Media enquiries: newsdesk@communities.gov.uk
Public enquiries and responsible statistician: Elise Whiteley
Email: planning.statistics@communities.gov.uk
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Standard Area Measurements (Latest) for Administrative Areas in the United Kingdom (V2). ↩
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The Land use in England statistics were last updated in 2022 and only cover data up to that year. These will be updated in due course. ↩ ↩2
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The Land use change statistics were last updated in 2023 and only cover data up to 2022. These will be updated in due course. ↩ ↩2
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Hectarage figures are given to the nearest 10, so 0 represents figures between 0 and 5. ↩