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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to set minimum periods for the review of local plans to enable established green belt boundaries to operate without the prospect of change for longer periods.

To be effective plans need to be kept up-to-date. We expect authorities to review their Local Plan at regular intervals to assess whether some or all of it may need updating. Our guidance is clear that most Local Plans are likely to require updating in whole or in part at least every five years. However, national policy makes it clear that one of the essential characteristics of Green Belts are their permanence.