Guidance

Funding to support local authorities with the costs of local plan delivery and Green Belt reviews

Updated 16 December 2024

Applies to England

Summary 

To ensure that local authorities are well-equipped and supported to implement the changes in the revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the government has announced two funds to support local authorities with local plan delivery and Green Belt reviews. 

A total of £14.8 million is available across both funds to support local authorities with these costs. Eligible local authorities are invited to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) form by 17 January 2025 to request a share of this funding. The eligibility criteria are set out below. Local authorities must meet all criteria to be awarded a share of this funding. Local authorities may be eligible for both Local Plans Delivery funding and Green Belt Review funding as long as they meet the criteria set out for both.   

Successful local authorities will be notified that they will receive funding on or around 10 February, and payments will be made on 19 February 2025. 

The EOI application forms will go live on GOV.UK on Monday 16 December 2024.

Local Plans Delivery Funding 2024/25

The purpose of this funding is to provide a financial contribution to local authorities that are at an advanced stage of the local plan making process (Regulation 19 stage), and that will need to revise their draft plans to accommodate the increase in their local housing need figures as a result of our changes in the revised NPPF. Local authorities that meet our eligibility criteria will be able to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) for an equal share of our fund, up to a maximum of £250,000 per local authority. 

The funding will provide a direct financial contribution to eligible local authorities to enable them to progress their plans within the required timeframe for submission by June or December 2026, as set out in the NPPF.

Eligibility  

Local authorities will be eligible for funding if: 

• they are at Regulation 19 stage of the plan making process at the time of NPPF implementation (3 months post-publication)  

• their draft housing requirement meets less than 80% of local housing need (as published on GOV.UK)  

• they need to revise their draft plan to reflect the revised NPPF and local housing need prior to submitting the document for examination 

• they anticipate submitting their plan in the current system (by June or December 2026, as set out in the NPPF), and to submit an updated local plan timetable (Local Development Scheme or LDS) to MHCLG within 12 weeks of the publication of the revised National Planning Policy Framework, and to provide regular updates on their progress against milestones 

• local authorities submitting an EOI for the funding will also be required to confirm that their EOI has been approved by their Section 151 officer

Criteria  

• funding will be awarded to local authorities that meet the eligibility criteria as set out above 

• local plans delivery funding will be equally divided across eligible local authorities with an expected maximum of £250,000 each, subject to the number of applicants  

• local authorities may be eligible for both Local Plans Delivery funding and Green Belt Review funding as long as they meet the criteria set out for both 

• grant will be provided via Section 31 Local Government Act powers and will be non-ring fenced. To give comfort that this money will be used to meet the costs of these activities, we ask that local authorities confirm that their Section 151 officer acknowledges the Expression of Interest and the intended purpose of the grant. A Grant Determination Letter will be issued when the grant is awarded 

• MHCLG expects funded councils to have proposals in place by the end of the financial year on how they will commit the grant funding

Monitoring 

• councils in receipt of funding must agree to collaborate with MHCLG on monitoring and evaluation requirements 

• they should ensure their local plan timetable (Local Development Scheme or LDS) is updated and shared with MHCLG within 12 weeks of the publication of the revised NPPF as requested in the Chief Planner’s December 2024 Newsletter, providing regular updates about progress against their timetable milestones to MHCLG 

• MHCLG may publish relevant data and use it to inform public statements. MHCLG will ensure that any information published will be processed in accordance with the requirements of data protection legislation 

• local authorities that are awarded funding may be invited to participate in a wider learning programme to help MHCLG better understand whether the funding was able to achieve its stated aims and inform the design of future policy, programmes and funding. The learning programme will be delivered by policy and research officials at MHCLG and may be supported by our external delivery partners. High-level details of the award and contact details may be shared and used by MHCLG and its external delivery partners to invite relevant colleagues to learning activities, including but not limited to in-person and hybrid workshops, research interviews and surveys 

• the learning programme will commence following the award of funding and may run until the end of March 2026

Questions

Eligible local authorities can submit their Expressions of Interest from 16 December 2024 where they will be asked to provide the following information:

1. Local authority name

2.Lead contact name

3. Lead contact job title

4. Lead contact email address

5. Will your emerging local plan be at Regulation 19 stage on 12 March 2025? Yes/No

6. Does your plan’s draft housing requirement meet less than 80% of your revised local housing need (as published on GOV.UK)? Yes/No

7. Will you need to revise your plan to reflect the revised National Planning Policy Framework and local housing need prior to submitting the document for examination? Yes/No

8. Will you submit your plan by the deadline set out in the National Planning Policy Framework (by June or December 2026 as appropriate)? Yes/No

9\ Do you agree to respond to MHCLG’s requests to submit an updated local plan timetable (Local Development Scheme or LDS) to MHCLG within 12 weeks of the publication of the revised National Planning Policy Framework, and to provide regular updates on your progress against milestones? Yes/No

10. Which types of activities will this funding be used to support? (Select all that apply):

• preparing or updating the plan evidence base
• technical studies
• site assessments
• consultation or engagement work
• hiring additional staff
• hiring consultants
• other - Tell us what other types of activities this funding will be used to support

11. Do you commit to have proposals in place by March 2025 on how you will spend the funding? (Yes/No)

12. Do you agree to collaborate with MHCLG over monitoring and evaluation requirements? Yes/No

13. Does your section 151 officer, or deputy section 151 officer, support this submission? Yes/No

14. Would you like to receive more information about the Open Digital Planning community and support to develop digital and data skills in your planning service? Yes/No

Green Belt Review Funding 2024/25  

To ensure that local authorities are well-equipped and supported to implement the changes in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), as published in December 2024, the government has announced funding to provide additional support to local authorities that intend to undertake a Green Belt review, in the form of a direct financial contribution towards their costs.   

This funding is open to local authorities that have an area of Green Belt within their boundary and intend to undertake a review in light of the updated NPPF. For example where a local authority is affected by changes to local housing need, the new definition of grey belt, the need to release Green Belt land to address housing need both within or across administrative boundaries or other circumstances that have a bearing on the land requirements (including an approach to identifying sustainable locations or density policies relating to the Green Belt). 

These local authorities are invited to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) for a share of the Fund, up to a maximum of £70,000 per local authority. Local authorities can be at any stage in the local plan preparation, adoption or have an up to date or out of date local plan. The work that results from this support should be prepared as part of the evidence base for the local plan and will be informed by an updated PPG relating to Green Belt reviews that will be published in January 2025. 

The funding will provide a direct financial contribution to eligible local authorities to enable them to complete their Green Belt review.

Eligibility  

Local authorities will be eligible for funding if they intend to undertake a Green Belt review to accommodate an increase in their local housing need announced in December 2024 alongside the wider changes to the NPPF, including those related to Green Belt release and grey belt.  

Local authorities are encouraged to work with their neighbouring authorities to undertake joint reviews. This will help to ensure reviews are done strategically and could reduce the administrative burden of submitting multiple EOIs for funding and provide economies of scale in commissioning evidence or consultancy support.    

Local authorities that are located within an area with a strategic authority which has an existing planning function, should coordinate and engage with the strategic authority, notably in London, Manchester and Liverpool. It may be suitable for the strategic authority to led on the review. 

Applicants are encouraged to consider how to utilise digital data to support this work and they may find MHCLG’s Map of Planning Data for England a useful starting point.  

Accompanying guidance for Green Belt reviews will be published in January 2025.  

Local authorities submitting an Expression of Interest (EOI) for the funding will be required to confirm that their EOI has been approved by the local authority’s Section 151 officer.

Criteria  

• funding will be awarded to local authorities that meet the eligibility criteria as set out above 

• Green Belt funding will be equally divided across eligible local authorities with an expected maximum of £70,000 each, subject to the number of applicants 

• local authorities may be eligible for both Local Plans Delivery funding and Green Belt Review funding as long as they meet the criteria set out for both 

• grant will be provided via Section 31 Local Government Act powers and will be non-ring fenced. To give comfort that this money will be used to meet the costs of these activities, we ask that local authorities confirm that their Section 151 officer acknowledges the Expression of Interest and the intended purpose of the grant. A Grant Determination Letter will be issued when the grant is awarded 

• MHCLG expects funded councils to have proposals in place by the end of the financial year on how they will commit the grant funding

Monitoring  

• councils in receipt of funding must agree to collaborate with MHCLG over monitoring and evaluation requirements 

• MHCLG may publish relevant data and use it to inform public statements. MHCLG will ensure that any information published will be processed in accordance with the requirements of data protection legislation 

• local authorities that are awarded funding may be invited to participate in a wider learning programme to help MHCLG better understand whether the funding was able to achieve its stated aims and inform the design of future policy, programmes and funding 

• the learning programme will be delivered by policy and research officials at MHCLG and may be supported by our external delivery partners. High-level details of the award and contact details may be shared and used by MHCLG and its external delivery partners to invite relevant colleagues to learning activities, including but not limited to in-person and hybrid workshops, research interviews and surveys 

• the learning programme will commence following the award of funding and may run until the end of March 2026

​Questions   

Eligible local authorities can submit their Expressions of Interest from 16 December 2024 where they will be asked to provide the following information: 

1. Local authority name  

2. Lead contact name 

3. Lead contact job title 

4. Lead contact email address  

5. Is this expression of interest being submitted jointly with another local authority? Yes/no 

a. Tell us which local authorities you are submitting this joint expression of interest with 

b. Which local authority will act as the accountable body for the funding and monitoring? 

c. Do you have agreement from all of the local authorities involved in this joint expression of interest? 

6. Do you intend to undertake a Green Belt review to accommodate an increase in your needs? (This can include your local housing need as a result of the National Planning Policy Framework.) Yes/No  

7. Which types of activities will this funding be used to support? (Select all that apply): 

• preparing or updating the evidence base
• technical studies 
• site assessments 
• joint working with other local authorities 
• consultation or engagement work 
• hiring additional staff 
• hiring consultants 
• other - Tell us what other types of activities this funding will be used to support 

8.   Do you commit to have proposals in place by March 2025 on how you will spend the funding? (Yes/No)  

9. Do you agree to collaborate with MHCLG over monitoring and evaluation requirements? Yes/No  

10. Does your section 151 officer, or deputy section 151 officer, support this submission? Yes/No

11. Would you like to receive more information about the Open Digital Planning community and support to develop digital and data skills in your planning service? Yes/No

Timeline for both funds

The envisaged timeline is:

• 12 December 2024 – NPPF published and EOI announced
• 16 December 2024 – EOI process for Local Plans Delivery Funding and Green Belt Funding goes live
• 17 January 2025 – deadline for EOI returns
• 10 February 2025 – successful local authorities notified that they will receive funding
• 19 February 2025 – payments made to local authorities

Contact us

Should you have any questions about this funding, please contact the Planning Capacity and Capability team:  LocalPlansandGreenBeltFunding@communities.gov.uk

Privacy notice

For more information on how we will process your data, please refer to the privacy notice.