National Planning Policy Framework, Chapter 13: Protecting Green Belt land (GB1–8)
This is Chapter 13 of the National Planning Policy Framework.
Applies to England
The objective of Green Belt policy, as set out in this chapter of the National Planning Policy Framework, is to prevent urban sprawl by keeping land permanently open. The government attaches great importance to Green Belts, the essential features of which are their openness and permanence.
Plan-making policies
GB1: Establishing new Green Belts
1. As the general extent of Green Belt land across the country is already established, new Green Belts should be established only in exceptional circumstances, for example when planning for new settlements or major urban extensions. Any proposals to establish new Green Belts in development plans should demonstrate:
a. Whether major changes in circumstances exist which make establishing a new Green Belt necessary as an exceptional measure;
b. Why normal planning and development policies would be inadequate for addressing these circumstances; and
c. That it would be compatible with long-term growth ambitions, including those beyond the plan period, for the relevant area.
GB2: Assessing existing Green Belt land
1. The preparation of spatial development strategies should be informed by an assessment of the strategic role of Green Belt land within the strategy area. This strategic Green Belt assessment should take into account the five purposes of the Green Belt, which are to:
a. Check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas;
b. Prevent neighbouring towns merging into one another;
c. Assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment;
d. Preserve the setting and special character of historic towns; and
e. Assist urban regeneration by encouraging the recycling of derelict and other urban land.
2. The strategic assessment should be used to help develop the spatial development strategy and to identify whether there are areas where Green Belt boundaries may require further consideration through the preparation of local plans.
3. The preparation of local plans should be informed by an assessment, conducted in accordance with the process at Annex E, which identifies grey belt and informs any Green Belt boundary alterations which accord with policy GB3.
GB3: Altering existing Green Belt boundaries
1. Green Belt boundaries should only be altered through the preparation and updating of local plans and where exceptional circumstances are fully evidenced and justified (other than where paragraph 4 of this policy applies).
2. Exceptional circumstances in this context include a local planning authority being unable to meet its identified need for development in full, having examined all other reasonable options for doing so, including:
a. Making as much use as possible of suitable previously developed and underutilised land;
b. Optimising the density of development in accordance with policy L1; and
c. Assessing whether sufficient suitable sites can be identified outside the Green Belt.
3. If a local planning authority wishes to make an exceptional, limited alteration to the defined Green Belt boundary (which might be to accommodate a site inset within the Green Belt) to meet a specific, identified need for a traveller site, it should be specifically allocated in the development plan as a traveller site only.
4. Where a development plan’s spatial strategy has identified suitable land around well-connected stations for development, exceptional circumstances do not need to be demonstrated to justify altering Green Belt boundaries.
GB4: Defining Green Belt boundaries
1. When defining Green Belt boundaries, whether as a result of altering or establishing Green Belts, local plans[footnote 39] should:
a. Only include land which it is necessary to keep permanently open as Green Belt;
b. Include villages within the Green Belt where it is necessary to restrict development because of the important contribution the open character of the village makes to the openness of the Green Belt. Such villages should not be identified as ‘settlements’ for the purpose of the spatial strategy in the development plan;
c. Use other, more relevant, policy approaches, such as conservation area designation where the character of a village needs to be protected for other reasons;
d. Demonstrate that new Green Belt boundaries are broadly consistent with the spatial strategy for accommodating growth and meeting development needs across the plan area and adjoining areas, including those of any relevant spatial development strategies. This includes ensuring that any alterations to Green Belt boundaries promote sustainable patterns of development, including by:
i. Giving priority to the release of previously developed land within the Green Belt, then to grey belt land which is not previously developed, and then other Green Belt locations, so long as this promotes a sustainable pattern of development overall; and
ii. Not proposing alterations where there is clear evidence these alterations would fundamentally undermine the purposes (taken together) of the remaining Green Belt when considered across the area of the plan.
e. Ensure that allocations for major development involving the provision of housing on land released from the Green Belt can meet the Golden Rules, as set out in policy GB8, and that these requirements are set out within the local plan;
f. Ensure Green Belt boundaries are defined clearly, using physical features that are readily recognisable and likely to be defensible; and
g. Identify areas of safeguarded land, where necessary to meet longer-term development needs well beyond the plan period. It should be made clear that safeguarded land is not allocated for development at the present time (and does not form part of settlements), and that its status will change only when the plan is updated and proposes that the land is released for development.
GB5: Beneficial uses of Green Belt land
1. Green Belt land should provide benefits for communities and nature, which means that the development plan should, at the most appropriate level, set out:
a. Opportunities to improve the environmental quality, secure improved public access to greenspace, including for outdoor sport or recreation, allotments and community food production, within the Green Belt;
b. How the Green Belt can contribute to the priorities for nature recovery set out within relevant Local Nature Recovery Strategies; and
c. Opportunities to support the objectives of the National Forest, England’s Community Forests and Protected Landscapes, where these lie wholly or partly within the Green Belt.
National decision-making policies
GB6: Control of development in the Green Belt
1. Development in the Green Belt is inappropriate unless it falls within one of the categories in policy GB7.
2. Inappropriate development is, by definition, harmful to the Green Belt and should not be approved except in very special circumstances. Such circumstances will not exist unless the potential harm to the Green Belt by reason of inappropriateness and any other harm resulting from the proposed development, is clearly outweighed by other considerations. In making this assessment, substantial weight should be given to the harm to the Green Belt which would be caused, including harm to its openness.
3. In the case of proposals for renewable and low carbon energy development, very special circumstances may include the wider environmental benefits associated with increased production of energy from renewable sources.
GB7: Development which is not inappropriate in the Green Belt
1. The following categories of development are not inappropriate in the Green Belt, and therefore should not be regarded as harmful to the Green Belt or be required to demonstrate very special circumstances:
a. Development which is for agriculture, horticulture and forestry, or which is solely for nature conservation, restoration and/or enhancement;
b. The reuse, extension, alteration or replacement of an existing building, provided that the existing building is of permanent and substantial construction, is lawful in planning terms, and any extension or alteration will not result in a disproportionate increase in size compared to the original building[footnote 40]. In the case of proposals for a replacement building, it should be for the same use and not materially larger than the one it replaces;
c. Limited infilling in villages lying within the Green Belt;
d. Limited affordable housing for local community needs under policies set out in this Framework or the development plan (for instance, on a rural exception site);
e. The redevelopment of previously developed land (including a material change of use to residential or mixed-use including residential), which would not cause substantial harm to the openness of the Green Belt;
f. Certain other forms of development, provided the impact on the openness of the Green Belt is minimised, and there would not be a significant conflict with the Green Belt purposes. These are:
i. Mineral extraction and processing, engineering operations, and transport, electricity network, water and telecommunications infrastructure required in a Green Belt location;
ii. Development brought forward under a Community Right to Build Order or Neighbourhood Development Order;
iii. Material changes in the use of land (such as changes of use for outdoor sport or recreation, or for cemeteries and burial grounds); and
iv. The provision of appropriate facilities (in connection with the existing use of land or a change of use), including buildings, for outdoor sport, outdoor recreation, cemeteries and burial grounds and allotments.
g. Development where all of the following apply:
i. The development would utilise grey belt land and would not fundamentally undermine the purposes (taken together) of the remaining Green Belt across the area of the plan;
ii. There is an evidenced unmet need for the type of development proposed[footnote 41];
iii. The development would be in a sustainable location, with particular reference to policy TR3 of this Framework[footnote 42]; and
iv. In the case of major development involving the provision of housing, the development proposed complies with policy GB8.
h. Residential or mixed-use development which would:
i. Be within reasonable walking distance of a well-connected station (applying the definitions in the glossary at Annex B);
ii. Be physically well-related to the station or the settlement within which the station is located;
iii. Be of a scale which can be accommodated taking into account the existing or proposed availability of infrastructure;
iv. Not prejudice any proposals for long-term comprehensive development in the same location; and
v. In the case of proposals for major development, comply with policy GB8.
GB8: The Golden Rules
1. Where major development involving the provision of housing is proposed on land released from the Green Belt through plan preparation or review, or on sites in the Green Belt subject to a planning application, all of the following contributions (‘Golden Rules’) should be made[footnote 43]:
a. Affordable housing which reflects either:
i. Development plan policy requirements for major development on land within or released from the Green Belt (as established under policy HO5(1)(a)(ii)); or
ii. Until such policies are in place, a contribution which is 15 percentage points above the highest existing affordable housing requirement which would otherwise apply to the development, subject to a cap of a 50%[footnote 44]. In the absence of a preexisting requirement for affordable housing, a 50% affordable housing contribution should apply by default.
b. Necessary improvements to local or national infrastructure; and
c. The provision of new green space, or improvements to existing green space, which is accessible to the public. New residents should be able to access good quality green spaces within a short walk of their homes, whether through on-site provision or through access to offsite spaces. This provision should:
i. Make a positive contribution to the landscape setting of the development;
ii. Support nature recovery; and
iii. Meet local standards for green space provision where these exist in the development plan. Where no locally-specific standards exist, development proposals should meet national standards relevant to the development (these include Natural England’s standards on accessible green space and urban greening factor and Green Flag criteria). Where land has been identified as having potential for habitat creation or nature recovery within Local Nature Recovery Strategies, proposals should contribute towards these outcomes.
2. In considering applications for major development involving the provision of housing on land released from the Green Belt through plan preparation or review, or on sites in the Green Belt subject to a planning application, substantial weight should be given to the importance of complying with the Golden Rules.
3. There are three circumstances in which a viability assessment demonstrating that it would not be possible for a development to comply with the Golden Rules may be submitted as part of a development proposal. These circumstances are where the development proposal is:
a. On previously developed land and demonstrably burdened by costs associated with that previous development which were not taken into account in the viability assessment that informed the development plan;
b. For a strategic site; or
c. For a development which is of a wholly different type to that considered in the viability assessment that informed the development plan.
4. Where the circumstances in paragraph 3 of this policy apply, development proposals should still make the maximum possible contribution to affordable housing and other infrastructure requirements. Development proposals which provide contributions significantly below those set out at (1)(a)(i) or (a)(ii) of this policy will only be acceptable in exceptional cases where fully evidenced and justified.
This is Chapter 13 of the National Planning Policy Framework
Continue to Chapter 14: Achieving well-designed places (DP1–4).
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Footnotes
39. Or neighbourhood plans where a need for changes to Green Belt boundaries has been established but not made in local plans, in which case detailed amendments to those boundaries may be made through neighbourhood plans. ↩
40. The original building for this purpose is the building that existed on 1 July 1948 or, if constructed after 1 July 1948, as it was built originally. ↩
41. Which, in the case of applications involving the provision of housing, means the lack of a five year supply of deliverable housing sites, including the relevant buffer where applicable, or where the Housing Delivery Test result was below 75% of the housing requirement over the previous three years; and in the case of traveller sites means the relevant local planning authority cannot demonstrate a five year supply of deliverable traveller sites. ↩
42. In the case of development proposals involving the provision of traveller sites, particular reference should instead be made to policy HO12. ↩
43. The Golden Rules do not apply to: (a) developments brought forward on land released from the Green Belt through plans adopted prior to 12 December 2024; (b) developments that were granted planning permission on Green Belt land prior to 12 December 2024; or (c) Traveller sites. ↩
44. The 50% cap does not apply to rural exception sites or community-led development exception sites, or if the local planning authority has a relevant existing policy which would apply to the development which exceeds 50%. ↩