Housing: Construction
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the extent to which housing delivery shortfalls are being used to justify development on protected land; how many homes approved on appeal in the last 12 months were on land previously designated as green belt; and what proportion of those approvals were opposed by the relevant local planning authority and ward councillors.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook
The National Planning Policy Framework sets out clear safeguards for land which is designated for its environmental or amenity value.
While a poor score on the Housing Delivery Test (HDT) is a strong indicator of housing need in an area not being met sufficiently, HDT failure does not mean that planning permission for housing will be automatically granted.
In 2025, the Planning Inspectorate approved approximately 3,000 homes on Green Belt land, of which 88% had been originally refused by the relevant Local Planning Authority.
My Department does not hold information in relation to opposition to specific applications by individual ward councillors.
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