Green Belt
What is the Green Belt, and can I extend a house in it?
What is the Green Belt, and can I extend a house in it?
The Green Belt is land designated to check urban sprawl by keeping land permanently open. Most new building is restricted, but extensions to existing houses are allowed where they are not disproportionate to the original dwelling. Openness is the test that runs through every decision.
What green belt means
Green Belt policy is national, applied through Local Plans. Its fundamental aim is to keep land open, so it weighs heavily against substantial new building.
Householder extensions are assessed against whether they are a "proportionate addition" to the original house and how they affect openness.
What it means for your project
A modest, well-proportioned extension can be acceptable; a large one, or outbuildings that erode openness, faces a high bar.
Replacement dwellings and outbuildings have their own Green Belt tests. A screening report tells you which apply at your address before you design.
Green Belt is published as the “Green Belt” dataset on the national planning data index. A Planning Policy report reads it live for your exact address.
Where green belt matters most
Does green belt apply at your address?
A Planning Policy report applies the official rules to your exact property: the designations on your address, the policies that bear on your project — quoted verbatim — and what decided applications nearby show. Generated in minutes.