Green Belt Martin Horwood To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 8 May 2007, Official Report, column 119W, on green belt, what the net change in the area of designated green belt over the period 2003 to 2006 was, broken down by region of the UK. Yvette Cooper The net changes, by region, in the areas of designated green belt are set out in the following table. The 2003 figures for London and south-east include 47,300 hectares of green belt in New Forest district council and Test Valley borough council which were re-designated as New Forest National Park in 2005. Leaving aside the New Forest there was an overall national increase in green belt land of about 7,500 hectares between 2003 and 2006. It is the responsibility of planning authorities to establish or review green belt boundaries through the plan making process. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Region |2003 area |2006 area |Change|Percentage change| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |North-east |66,300 |71,910 |5,580 |8.41 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |North-west |260,610 |260,310 |-300 |-0.12 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Yorkshire and the Humber |262,640 |264,930 |2,290 |0.87 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |East Midlands |79,520 |78,900 |-620 |-0.78 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |West Midlands |269,140 |269,256 |116 |0.04 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |East Anglia |26,690 |26,302 |-388 |-1.45 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |London/wider south-east (excluding New Forest) |553,170 |553,886 |716 |0.12 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |South-west |106,180 |106,330 |150 |0.14 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |England1 (excluding New Forest) |1,624,280 |1,631,824 |7,544 |0.45 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1 In 2005, the green belt land in New Forest DC and Test Valley BC (47,300 hectares) was designated as part of New Forest National Park. The 2003 figure excludes this figure for true comparison.| | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bob Spink To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what changes have been made in the Government's policy on the protection of the greenbelt surrounding conurbations in the south-east of England over the last five years; and if she will make a statement. Yvette Cooper National planning policies on green belts, as set out in Planning Policy Guidance note 2 (PPG2), are essentially unchanged from those published in 1995. Green belt boundaries are determined in plans drawn up by local planning authorities. Government policy in PPG2 states that changes to boundaries should be made only in exceptional circumstances when those plans are being reviewed. The Government are committed to the principles of the green belt and will make no fundamental change to planning policy as set out in Planning Policy Guidance note 2.