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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 30 April 2025 to Question 45670 on Green Belt: Planning Permission, whether she took into account (a) the fall in housing starts due to the post-2008 recession and financial crisis and (b) the redesignation in 2010 of gardens as greenfield land.

Metropolitan Open Land is a local designation used by the Mayor of London in his London Plan.

Policy relating to the designation, as well as the current extent of Metropolitan Open Land, is entirely a matter for the Mayor.

The government’s approach to the Green Belt, including the circumstances in which Green Belts should be reviewed, is set out in Chapter 13 of the revised National Planning Policy Framework that was published on 12 December 2024. The Framework makes clear that local planning authorities should review their Green Belt in exceptional circumstances, including situations where an authority cannot meet its identified needs through other means.

It is only in built-up areas that residential gardens are excluded from the definition of previously developed land.