Green Belt Planning

The Green Belt serves five purposes:

1. to check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas;
2. to prevent neighbouring towns from merging into one another;
3. to assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment;
4. to preserve the setting and special character of historic towns; and
5. to assist in urban regeneration, by encouraging the recycling of derelict and other urban land.

As well as working on a range of developments within the Green Belt a core element of our experience is submitting planning applications and obtaining valuable planning permission for replacement dwellings and house extensions.

Please see our dedicated case-studies page for further information.

There are several exceptions that may allow you to get planning permission for development on land designated as Green belt: 

• Removing land from the Green Belt – this may sound obvious but it notoriously difficult to achieve. The NPPF state quite clearly that there needs to be exceptional circumstances for them to do so. It could be that there is an elevated demand for new homes, but councils need to demonstrate that every other avenue has been explored first.That need to prove they have exhausted all possibility of using Brownfield sites, that density in current builds has been optimised and that they have considered the needs of neighbouring councils. The process of obtaining planning on Green belt is time consuming, and highly political with a relatively low chance of success, especially considering the competition that exists between other housebuilders and stakeholders.
• For agriculture and forestry – If you are planning to rebuild houses for agriculture and forestry workers. Under special circumstances where workers are required to live in a certain place, for animal welfare, for example, buildings can be erected on Green Belt.
• Limited infilling or the partial or complete redevelopment of previously developed – as long as the openness of the Green belt is maintained then brownfield land can be built upon – that is the redevelopment of previously developed land.
• Provision of appropriate facilities (which would normally be seen to be suitable for rural/ countryside locations) – This could be for paces like cemeteries and outdoor sporting facilities where the openness of the Green Belt is maintained.
• The extension or alterations of buildings (including house extensions) – this can be acceptable as long as the overall proportions of the building are not exceeded
• Replacement of buildings (including dwellings) – providing that the new building is of the same size and proportions.
• Limited infilling in villages – under limitations provided in the Local Plan, strictly limited affordable housing for local communities may be allowed.
• Certain other works including re-use of buildings; material changes of land use

The NPPF provides for “the extension or alteration of a building provided that it does not result in disproportionate additions over and above the size of the original building”.

Generally, we would expect that each LPA green belt house extensions policies would typically dictate a certain percentage over the “original house” often around 15 – 30% either in floor space or volume terms.

The term “original house” is critical in that it means the house as originally constructed or as it stood in 1948. Any extension to the original house would need to be taken into account when investigating further green belt house extensions and in many cases, houses have already had extensions larger than the LPA would allow. As will be highlighted in the following examples, this is not always the end of the options.

Understanding the original house and the scale of previous green belt house extensions is critical as a starting point before any design works are undertaken, however, we are often approached once designs have been produced (or even considered by the Council), still with successful results.

Also see our page on House Extensions