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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to empower local authorities to prevent developers from building on greenbelt land when allocated brownfield sites with existing planning permissions granted have not been developed in that local authority area.

The Government is committed to maintaining strong protections for the Green Belt. The revised National Planning Policy Framework will clarify what ‘exceptional circumstances’ means for local authorities considering altering a Green Belt boundary. This includes making as much use as possible of suitable brownfield and under-used land.

The Government provides support to local authorities through mechanisms including the New Homes Bonus, loans from the Home Building Fund, Land Remediation Relief and Enterprise Zone and Housing Zone designations.