Planning Minister writes to PINS to "restate very clearly" Green Belt policy

The Planning Minister, Nick Boles, has written to the Planning Inspectorate to “restate very clearly” the Government’s view of Green Belt policy and Local Plan examinations.

The letter to Sir Michael Pitt, chief executive of the Planning Inspectorate, was prompted by media coverage of the recent inspector’s report on the examination into the Reigate and Banstead Local Plan.

The minister said he was “very troubled” by the coverage of the report, which according to the Surrey Mirror outlined Green Belt land that could provide up to 1,400 homes.

He added: “On reading the report, I was disturbed by the Inspector's use of language, which invited misinterpretation of government policy and misunderstanding about the local authority's role in drawing up all of the policies in the draft plan.”

Fundamental to the National Planning Policy Framework and to the Government’s planning reforms was the idea that local authorities, and the communities who elected them, were in charge of planning for their own areas, Boles said.

“That is why we abolished the top down regional strategies, why we have emphasised the primacy of the Local Plan and why we gave communities the powers to create neighbourhood plans.”

The minister insisted that the Government was always very clear that it would maintain key protections for the countryside and, in particular, for the Green Belt.

He claimed that the NPPF “met this commitment in full”. Boles added: “The framework makes clear that a Green Belt boundary may be altered only in exceptional circumstances and reiterates the importance and permanence of the Green Belt.”

The letter added that the special role of Green Belt was also recognised in the framing of sustainable development, which set out “that authorities should meet objectively assessed needs unless specific policies in the Framework indicate development should be restricted”. Boles said: “Crucially, Green Belt is identified as one such policy.”

The minister’s letter said it had always been the case that a local authority could adjust a Green Belt boundary through a review of the Local Plan.

“It must however always be transparently clear that it is the local authority itself which has chosen that path – and it is important that this is reflected in the drafting of Inspectors’ reports.”

Boles warned that the Communities Secretary would consider exercising his statutory powers of intervention in Local Plans before they are adopted where a planning inspector has recommended a Green Belt review that is not supported by the local planning authority.

The minister asked Sir Michael Pitt to circulate a copy of the letter to all inspectors and “ensure that they understand the need to choose their words carefully and reflect government policy very clearly in all future reports”.