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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make it her policy to map grey belt land.

It is for individual local planning authorities to assess if land is grey belt and to determine whether and how to amend Green Belt boundaries through the preparation or updating of plans.

On 27 February 2025, Planning Practice Guidance was published to assist local authorities and other decision-makers, and to support a consistent approach to determining whether land is grey belt. It can be found on gov.uk here. This new guidance will support authorities in producing Local Plans, while also making sure that planning applications and development on suitable grey belt land can proceed in the short-term in areas without an up-to-date plan.

The government has also provided 133 local planning authorities with £70,000 of pump priming funding each to contribute towards the costs of carrying out Green Belt reviews in their areas.

Any alteration to a Green Belt boundary is reported to the Department and the details published on gov.uk in our annual Green Belt statistical release. In addition, the Department publishes statistics on land use change, including estimates of new residential addresses created in Green Belt and other categories of land.