The ‘Grey Belt’ term refers to areas of green belt land that may be suitable for development under specific conditions. These are parcels of land that do not strongly serve the main purposes of green belt designation and are not heavily restricted by other national policies. The concept was introduced as part of the revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), there have been significant decisions to demonstrate the ‘new’ policy in action.
Recent approvals show how this policy is being applied in practice. For example:
- Hertfordshire: Europe’s largest AI data centre was approved on grey belt land.
- Surrey: A mixed-use commercial, recycling, and residential development gained approval on a former waste processing site.
- St Albans: A 550-home scheme in Harpenden was approved.
However, the approach to what constitutes ‘grey belt’ land has been inconsistent, and in response, the Government has published updated Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) to assist in the assessment of grey belt land for plan-making and decision-taking.
Plan-Making: How is Grey Belt Identified?
Relevant Local Authorities are required to undertake a green belt assessment to identify grey belt land at plan-making stage. It may be that many existing green belt assessments are now out of date when considering the 5 key steps of green belt assessment in relation to grey belt definitions.
The five key steps to a PPG-informed Green Belt Assessment are:
- Define the assessment area – Determine the location and scale of the land being reviewed.
- Assess Green Belt contribution – Evaluate the area against the five purposes of green belt designation, focusing on purposes (a), (b), and (d).
- Review policy restrictions – Consider whether other NPPF policies (Footnote 7) strongly limit development.
- Identify grey belt land – Combine findings from steps 2 and 3 to identify land that does not strongly serve green belt purposes and is not restricted by Footnote 7 policies.
- Evaluate overall impact – Assess whether releasing the identified grey belt land would undermine the wider purpose of the green belt in the local plan area.
Decision-Taking: When is Development Appropriate?
Once land is defined as grey belt, the next step is to decide whether an application site might be ‘not inappropriate’, and therefore not required to make a very special circumstances case to clearly outweigh the green belt harms and any other harms.
Grey belt proposals that meet all the following criteria of paragraph 155 of the framework, should not be regarded as inappropriate development if:
- The development would utilise grey belt land and would not fundamentally undermine the purposes (taken together) of the remaining green belt across the area of the plan: more decisions will make this clearer however, one decision assessed the relative impact of the scheme on the district’s green belt as a whole.
- There is a demonstrable unmet need for the type of development proposed (defined in footnote 56 for housing)
- The development would be in a sustainable location.
Grey belt that does not meet the above criteria is still grey belt (in the green belt), but the proposal in question is either inappropriate development or it can be demonstrated via other NPPF paras, e.g. paragraph 154g (exception tests), that it is not inappropriate.
And for major development involving housing in the grey belt: – d. The development would meet the Golden Rules
Where a proposal complies with the Golden Rules, significant weight in favour of the grant of permission should be given (paragraph 158).
The Golden Rules being:
- Affordable housing contribution requirements
- Necessary improvements to local or national infrastructure (local or national level)
- New or improved green spaces – Residents should have access to quality green space nearby.
The Golden Rules apply to major development involving housing, rather than major housing development.
What This Means Moving Forward
The new PPG provides more clarity; a grey belt site that meets the tests of appropriateness should not constitute inappropriate development, thus allowing many potential development sites to be re-appraised. However, complex considerations may override the seemingly straightforward tests, and each step of the process will require a detailed, subjective, assessment to be undertaken.
More assessment work is to be done, whether the update of previous Green Belt assessments or scrutiny of sites that are grey belt candidates. These assessments will test the planning profession to make detailed site and area assessments, drawing together all of our specialist skills.
Get in Touch
If you would like to speak to our planning and development team, call us on 01604 880 163 or email us at planning@argroup.co.uk – We’d be happy to discuss your project and how we can assist you.