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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to paragraph 61 of the National Planning Policy Framework, published in December 2023, whether it his policy that a local authority area being located wholly within the green belt should 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.

I refer the Hon Member to the written statement made by my Rt Hon Friend The Secretary of State (HCWS161) and the revisions made to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) on 19th December 2023.