Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Government has a policy is on the coalescence of villages and towns through house building on green wedges between settlements.

The Government's expectations are set out in the National Planning Policy Framework. This asks local authorities to optimise density in the development of towns, and to recognise the character and beauty of the countryside. Plans should focus development on sustainable locations. The Framework also makes clear that, in rural areas, housing should be located where it will enhance or maintain the vitality of rural communities.

It is for local authorities to use their plans to determine the extent of settlements, and say where essential development should go, and where restraint, such as Green Belt, is needed. One of the purposes of Green Belt is to prevent neighbouring towns merging into one another. In Green Belt, most types of new housing are to be treated as inappropriate development, and refused planning permission except in very special circumstances.