NPPF GB4: Defining Green Belt boundaries

GB4: Defining Green Belt boundaries 1. When defining Green Belt boundaries, whether as a result of altering or establishing Green Belts, local plans39 should: a. Only include land which it is necessary to keep permanently open as Green Belt; b. Include villages within the Green Belt where it is necessary to restrict development because of the important contribution the open character of the village makes to the openness of the Green Belt. Such villages should not be identified as ‘settlements’ for the purpose of the spatial strategy in the development plan; c. Use other, more relevant, policy approaches, such as conservation area designation where the character of a village needs to be protected for other reasons; d. Demonstrate that new Green Belt boundaries are broadly consistent with the spatial strategy for accommodating growth and meeting development needs across the plan area and adjoining areas, including those of any relevant spatial development strategies. This includes ensuring that any alterations to Green Belt boundaries promote sustainable patterns of development, including by: i. Giving priority to the release of previously developed land within the Green Belt, then to grey belt land which is not previously developed, and then other Green Belt Or neighbourhood plans where a need for changes to Green Belt boundaries has been established but not made in local plans, in which case detailed amendments to those boundaries may be made through neighbourhood plans. 61 locations, so long as this promotes a sustainable pattern of development overall; and ii. Not proposing alterations where there is clear evidence these alterations would fundamentally undermine the purposes (taken together) of the remaining Green Belt when considered across the area of the plan. e. Ensure that allocations for major development involving the provision of housing on land released from the Green Belt can meet the Golden Rules, as set out in policy GB8, and that these requirements are set out within the local plan; f. Ensure Green Belt boundaries are defined clearly, using physical features that are readily recognisable and likely to be defensible; and g. Identify areas of safeguarded land, where necessary to meet longer-term development needs well beyond the plan period. It should be made clear that safeguarded land is not allocated for development at the present time (and does not form part of settlements), and that its status will change only when the plan is updated and proposes that the land is released for development.