Decision details

To accept a grant of £70,000 from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).

Following publication of a new NPPF there has been a significant uplift in the number of homes that must be planned for in the North Yorkshire Local Plan. However, as large parts of the plan area are covered by constraints providing strong reasons for restricting development, accommodating these increased levels of development is expected to be challenging. Where development needs cannot be accommodated on land outside the Green Belt, the updated NPPF requires authorities to review Green Belt boundaries with the aim of releasing land to meet development needs.

Whilst a definitive position (either way) on the need for Green Belt land cannot be established at the current stage of plan making, it is incumbent on the council to prepare for a potential review in order to prevent delays to overall plan production timescales.

To this end, acceptance of the funds will enable work to take place without recourse to existing budgets. Work on a Green Belt review will not commit the council to amending Green Belt boundaries as this will require strong evidence that development needs cannot be met through other means. If this evidence exists, it will become apparent as local plan preparation advances at which point the Green Belt review will inform the further development of the plan.

An alternative option of not accepting the funding offer has been considered but rejected. Where development needs cannot be met by other means, a Green Belt review is required by the recently updated NPPF and, therefore, should the need to undertake a review arise, it would do so regardless of whether the Council accepts this funding. The work would then be required to take place in order to produce a local plan that meets the tests of soundness. If the alternative option is pursued, the Council would have to fund this work through other mechanisms.