Westminster Hall
15 September 2026
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Chamber Actual start House of Commons
15:28 - 15:30
Speaker 1
Sir Jeremy Wright to move the motion.
15:30 - 17:49
Speaker 2
Thank you very much indeed, Dame Siobhain. It's a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship and to have the opportunity to introduce this debate about the definition of grey belt. Dame Siobhain, as you will know, shortly after its election, this government introduced a new concept into planning and development, that of grey belt land. And this would be a subset of land designated as green belt currently, which the government considered less worthy of protection than the rest of the green belt and on which it wanted to make development easier.
And I have asked for this debate because I think it's important that we understand the significance of this new concept. And specifically what I'm interested in understanding, and I know the minister will do his best to help with all of these items, is first of all how different grey belt designation seems to be to what the government originally said that grey belt would be. Secondly, its likely impact on our countryside. And thirdly, how it combines with other changes the government is making to the balance of development in rural and urban areas.
So Dame Siobhain, let's start with the difference between what the government originally suggested grey belt would be and what their definition published in the National Planning Policy Framework document actually says it is. In July of 2024, the right honourable lady for Ashton-under-Lyne, in her first incarnation as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, told the House that the government's intention was that, and I quote, "we will release lower quality grey belt sites, disused car parks and garages and ugly wasteland", end quote. She also said that, and I quote again, "the land we are talking about, grey belt, which we will define in the NPPF consultation, is not agricultural land, it is disused garages and things of that nature", end quote. However, when the actual definition of grey belt land appeared in the NPPF of December 2024, the concept was considerably wider than that.
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