Local authority green belt: England 2023-24 - statistical release
Published 5 December 2024
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2024
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1. Main points
- The extent of land designated as Green Belt in England as at 31 March 2024 was estimated at 1,634,760 hectares, around 12.5% of the land area of England.
- Overall, there was a decrease of 3,540 hectares (0.2% of the Green Belt, or 0.03% of the total land area of England) in the area of land designated as Green Belt between 31 March 2023 and 31 March 2024.
- In 2023-24, 15 local authorities adopted local plans involving changes to the Green Belt, with the result being a net decrease of 3,550 hectares in the overall area of land designated as Green Belt compared to 31 March 2023.
- In addition, updates to the local authority district (mean high water mark) boundaries resulted in a net increase of 10 hectares in the area of land designated as Green Belt.
2. Context
England has a land area of just under 13,046,230 hectares[footnote 1] of which 9% is of developed use[footnote 2] with around 11% being classified as ‘built-up’[footnote 3]. When including land designated as Green Belt, just over 37% of the area of England (4.9 million hectares) is protected against development by one or more protected area. ‘Protected areas’ for these purposes include land designated as Green Belt, and the protected areas and land designations identified by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee.
The National Planning Policy Framework states the government attaches great importance to Green Belts. The fundamental aim of Green Belt policy is to prevent urban sprawl by keeping land permanently open; the essential characteristics of Green Belts are their openness and their permanence.
Green Belt serves 5 purposes:
- to check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas;
- to prevent neighbouring towns merging into one another;
- to assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment;
- to preserve the setting and special character of historic towns; and
- to assist in urban regeneration, by encouraging the recycling of derelict and other urban land.
Once Green Belts have been defined, local planning authorities should plan positively to enhance their beneficial use, such as looking for opportunities to provide access; to provide opportunities for outdoor sport and recreation; to retain and enhance landscapes, visual amenity and biodiversity; or to improve damaged and derelict land.
Once established, Green Belt boundaries should only be altered where exceptional circumstances are fully evidenced and justified, through the preparation or updating of plans. Strategic policies should establish the need for any changes to Green Belt boundaries, having regard to their intended permanence in the long term, so they can endure beyond the plan period. Where a need for changes to Green Belt boundaries has been established through strategic policies, detailed amendments to those boundaries may be made through non-strategic policies, including neighbourhood plans.
Inappropriate development is, by definition, harmful to the Green Belt and should not be approved except in very special circumstances.
When considering any planning application, local planning authorities should ensure that substantial weight is given to any harm to the Green Belt. ‘Very special circumstances’ will not exist unless the potential harm to the Green Belt by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm resulting from the proposal, is clearly outweighed by other considerations.
The government expects to issue a revised edition of the National Planning Policy Framework before the end of 2024.
2.1 Related publications
It is useful to consider this statistical release alongside other statistical releases published by the department. The Land Use statistical release provides a breakdown of land uses within the Green Belt at local authority level.
The Land Use Change statistics provide information on the proportion of new residential addresses created within the Green Belt and the previous use of the land on which the new residential addresses were created, also at local authority level. Land use change in terms of hectarage is also available within the Green Belt.
3. Extent of the Green Belt as at 31 March 2024
The extent of land designated as Green Belt in England as at 31 March 2024 is shown in Map 1, below. It was estimated at 1,634,760 hectares, around 12.5% of the land area of England. A regional breakdown of the number of hectares designated as Green Belt and the proportion of the total regional land area designated as Green Belt is shown below in Table 1.
The table shows the South East has the largest area of land designated as Green Belt with 305,280 hectares, followed by the West Midlands with 264,500 and Yorkshire and The Humber with 260,980 hectares. Out of the 9 regions, London has the smallest area of land designated as Green Belt with 34,780 hectares but has the highest proportion of its total land area designated as Green Belt with 22.1%. The region with the smallest percentage of its land designated as Green Belt is the South West with 107,970 hectares, accounting for only 4.5% of its total land area.
Table 1: Regional breakdown of Green Belt land
| Region | Green Belt area (hectares) | Percentage of total land area |
|---|---|---|
| England | 1,634,760 | 12.5 |
| East Midlands | 77,410 | 4.9 |
| East of England | 233,670 | 12.2 |
| London | 34,780 | 22.1 |
| North East | 98,550 | 11.5 |
| North West | 251,630 | 17.8 |
| South East | 305,280 | 16.0 |
| South West | 107,970 | 4.5 |
| West Midlands | 264,500 | 20.3 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 260,980 | 16.9 |
Note: hectarage figures are rounded to the nearest 10 hectares.
Map 1: Extent of Green Belt as at 31 March 2024
3.1 Urban core areas
Land designated as Green Belt is distributed around 16 urban cores. These are mapped using the dark yellow areas in Map 1 and are listed in Table 4 which also shows the area of land associated with each urban core. The Metropolitan Green Belt (London) is the largest area of Green Belt surrounding an urban core and accounts for 31.1% of England’s total Green Belt area.
The ‘Area by LA’ table in the Accompanying tables shows estimates of the area of land designated as Green Belt within each of the 177 local authorities (out of 296 local authorities) that had some land designated as Green Belt as at 31 March 2024. The ‘Change in area by LA’ table in the Accompanying tables compares estimates as at 31 March 2024 with the revised estimates as at 31 March 2023 by local authority.
3.2 Changes in methodology
A methodological change was introduced as part of the 2019-20 statistical release providing general improvements to mapping accuracy, boundary definitions and area calculations. The area of land designated as Green Belt for each local authority was previously calculated by local authorities but is now calculated by MHCLG using the digital Green Belt boundary files provided by the local authorities. The local authority Green Belt boundaries are mapped against ONS local authority district (mean high water mark) boundaries[footnote 4] for the corresponding period. This results in greater accuracy in the delimiting of land designated as Green Belt where it meets coastal or estuarine areas and ensures a consistent national approach.
MHCLG applied the changes in methodology to the Green Belt data for previous years to ensure a consistent time series. Revisions were made to the hectarage figures from 2013-14 onwards allowing users to better track the changes to the Green Belt over time.
The ‘Net Changes’ section was amended to record the year on year net change made to the area of land designated as Green Belt resulting from local authority designation policies and net changes resulting from updates made to the local authority district (Mean High Water mark) boundaries for the corresponding period.
As part of the 2022-23 statistical release revisions were made to the hectarage figures with the above methodology being applied to the hectarage figures from 1997 onwards. In addition, the area of land designated as Green Belt is now calculated using R software as opposed to QGIS software with area figures calculated in R being approximately 0.06% lower than those calculated in QGIS. The largest revision for an individual authority due to the software change was a decrease of 0.08%.
4. Net changes
Overall, there was a decrease of 3,540 hectares (-0.2%) in the area of land designated as Green Belt in England between 31 March 2023 and 31 March 2024.
In 2023-24, 15 local authorities adopted new Green Belt boundaries, resulting in a net decrease of 3,550 hectares in the overall area of land designated as Green Belt compared to 31 March 2023. The changes are set out in Table 2. There may be discrepancies between individual figures due to rounding, with all figures rounded to the nearest 10 hectares.
Table 2: Local authorities which adopted new boundaries for designated land as Green Belt 2023-24
| Local authority | Area of designated Green Belt land 31 March 2023 (hectares) | Area of designated Green Belt land 31 March 2024 (hectares) | Change from 31 March 2023 (hectares) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blackburn with Darwen | 5,270 | 5,240 | -40 (-1%) |
| Bolton | 7,220 | 7,020 | -200 (-3%) |
| Bury | 5,920 | 5,350 | -570 (-10%) |
| East Hertfordshire | 16,450 | 16,450 | 0 (0%) |
| Leeds | 33,860 | 33,840 | -20 (0%) |
| Manchester | 1,280 | 1,240 | -30 (-3%) |
| Oldham | 6,250 | 6,100 | -160 (-3%) |
| Rochdale | 9,920 | 9,430 | -490 (-5%) |
| Salford | 3,370 | 3,240 | -130 (-4%) |
| Tameside | 5,070 | 4,890 | -180 (-4%) |
| Trafford | 3,980 | 3,730 | -260 (-6%) |
| Wakefield | 23,490 | 22,890 | -600 (-3%) |
| Warrington | 11,370 | 10,990 | -380 (-3%) |
| Welwyn Hatfield | 10,250 | 9,930 | -320 (-3%) |
| Wigan | 10,640 | 10,470 | -170 (-2%) |
Note: hectarage figures are rounded to the nearest 10 hectares.
Of the 15 local authorities reporting changes to their Green Belt, all had a net decrease. Wakefield had the largest net change with a net decrease of 600 hectares, decreasing the size of the authority’s Green Belt by 3%.
In recent years, about 10 local authorities have made changes to land designated as Green Belt each year, albeit with the figure varying between years. Local authorities making changes to their Green Belt provide explanations for the changes on their AGB return. These explanations are reviewed and supplemented by the Department where necessary and are available within Annex A.
Updates made to the local authority district (mean high water mark) boundaries resulted in a net increase of 10 hectares in the area of land designated as Green Belt.
Table 3 shows the net charge reported for each year from 2013-14, broken down into changes resulting from designation policies and resulting from changes to digital boundaries. The figures reflect subsequent revisions made to the figures to improve accuracy.
Table 3: National summary of net changes to land designated as Green Belt
| Year | Number of local authorities changing their Green Belt | Net change from local authority designation policies (hectares) | Net change from local authority digital boundary (hectares) | Total net change (hectares) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-14 | 3 | -540 | 0 | -540 |
| 2014-15 | 11 | -1,890 | 0 | -1,890 |
| 2015-16 | 8 | -1,070 | 40 | -1,030 |
| 2016-17 | 8 | -1,190 | 10 | -1,180 |
| 2017-18 | 10 | -6,090 | -20 | -6,110 |
| 2018-19 | 13 | -3,850 | 0 | -3,850 |
| 2019-20 | 15 | -3,220 | -350 | -3,570 |
| 2020-21 | 11 | -1,760 | 10 | -1,750 |
| 2021-22 | 14 | 24,580 | 0 | 24,580 |
| 2022-23 | 10 | 750 | -10 | 740 |
| 2023-24 | 15 | -3,550 | 10 | -3,540 |
Note: hectarage figures are rounded to the nearest 10 hectares
5. Revisions to 2022-23 estimates
Revisions are made each year to the published estimates for the previous year in order to accurately calculate the net change in Green Belt area. The revised Green Belt in England as at 31 March 2023 is estimated at 1,638,310 hectares. This is a decrease of 110 hectares on the previous estimate of 1,638,420 hectares published in October 2023.
19 authorities reported revisions with the majority of the changes being due to applying the Department’s single standard national methodology to the local authority-held figures. A summary of the scale of revisions over the preceding statistical releases, is available under the ‘Scale of revisions’ heading in the Technical Notes Section.
6. Longer-term changes
Statistics on the area of Green Belt are available back to 1997, in the ‘Area since 1997 – England’ table of the Accompanying tables. Figures are, however, available on a consistent basis only from 2007, following the designation of 47,300 hectares of Green Belt land as part of the New Forest National Park in 2005. Those from 31 March 2019 are set out in Table 4, broken down by urban core.
Table 4: Trend in the area of land designated as Green Belt as at 31 March since 2013-14
| Urban core | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | 1,614,720 | 1,612,980 | 1,637,560 | 1,638,310 | 1,634,760 |
| Bath and Bristol | 71,650 | 71,650 | 71,650 | 71,640 | 71,640 |
| Birmingham | 226,870 | 226,870 | 226,840 | 226,600 | 226,600 |
| Blackpool | 2,510 | 2,510 | 2,510 | 2,500 | 2,500 |
| Burton-upon-Trent and Swadlincote | 720 | 720 | 720 | 720 | 720 |
| Cambridge | 26,090 | 26,090 | 26,090 | 26,090 | 26,090 |
| Carnforth, Lancaster and Morecambe | 1,740 | 1,540 | 1,540 | 1,540 | 1,540 |
| Cheltenham and Gloucester | 6,190 | 6,190 | 6,190 | 6,190 | 6,190 |
| Derby and Nottingham | 59,900 | 59,900 | 59,900 | 59,900 | 59,910 |
| London | 508,910 | 507,930 | 506,040 | 508,520 | 508,200 |
| Merseyside and Greater Manchester | 249,110 | 249,120 | 248,650 | 247,630 | 245,020 |
| Oxford | 34,740 | 34,460 | 34,460 | 34,460 | 34,460 |
| South West Hampshire | 34,790 | 34,650 | 35,100 | 35,100 | 35,100 |
| South and West Yorkshire | 247,220 | 247,220 | 246,980 | 246,490 | 245,870 |
| Stoke-on-Trent | 44,410 | 44,380 | 44,380 | 44,410 | 44,400 |
| Tyne and Wear | 71,920 | 71,790 | 98,560 | 98,550 | 98,550 |
| York | 27,950 | 27,950 | 27,950 | 27,950 | 27,950 |
Note: figures are rounded to the nearest 10 hectares
Figures (in this publication) have been revised since the original estimates were published.
7. Accompanying tables and spatial boundary files
Additional tables, on total area and changes to land designated as Green Belt (annual), are available to download alongside this release. The tables are as follows:
| Table name | Table description |
|---|---|
| Area by LA | Land designated as Green belt - area by local authority as at 31 March 2024 |
| Change in area by LA | Change in Green Belt area between 31 March 2023 and 31 March 2024 |
| Area since 1997 | Area of Green Belt land since 1997, England |
| Area by PCON | Land designated as Green belt - area by parliamentary constituency as used for the July 2024 General Election using data at 31 March 2024. |
| Land designations by LA | Land designated as Green Belt and other designations including National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Sites of Special Scientific Interest - area by local authority as at 31 March 2024 |
| Area by LA 1997 to 2023-24 | Designated Green Belt land - area by local authority from 1997 to 31 March 2024 |
| Green belt Interactive Dashboard | An interactive dashboard comprising statistical information on land designated as Green Belt and other land designations is also available on the Green Belt statistics landing page. |
In addition, spatial data files setting out Green Belt area boundaries are available at https://data.gov.uk/.
8. Uses of the data
The local authority Green Belt spatial boundaries, collected as part of this release are used in the preparation of other statistical releases published by MHCLG The Land Use Change statistics (LUCs) use the Green Belt boundaries to determine the proportion of new residential addresses created within the Green Belt, and the previous land use those addresses were created on. The Land Use statistics use the Green Belt boundaries to calculate proportions of various land use classes within the Green Belt.
The summary statistics for the Land Use Change statistics and the Land Use statistics within land designated as Green Belt are as follows:
- In 2021-22, 2% of new residential addresses created were within the Green Belt. This is unchanged from the 2020-21.
- In 2021-22, 51% of new residential addresses created within the Green Belt were built on previously developed land. This is an increase on the 47% recorded in 2020-21.
- In 2022, 6.8% of land designated as Green Belt in England is of developed use with 93.1% of land of non-developed use.
- Of land designated as Green Belt, 0.3% is of a residential use with residential gardens accounting for a further 2.9%.
Detailed statistics on changes within the Green Belt can also be found in the Land Use Change live tables P310, P311 and P380 to P383.
Detailed statistics on land uses within the Green Belt can also be found in the Land Use in England 2018 live tables P401a and P401b.
Green Belt statistics are often quoted alongside statistics for other designations. These designations are often considered constraints on development with the statistics providing the amount of land ‘protected’ against development.
The Green Belt boundaries and statistics are closely aligned with local plans and local planning. The Green Belt boundaries were used to help determine Local Housing Need numbers and feed into a number of other related housing and development related projects.
8.1 Annex A: explanation of changes in 2023-24
Local authorities making changes to their Green Belt provide explanations for the changes on their AGB return, for which the guidance notes encourage them to include references to their Local Plan. These explanations are presented here for users’ information, with some minor amendments for clarity only. If any figures within these explanations differ from the statistics, we advise users to use the statistics because they are produced using a consistent methodology for processing the data provided by local authorities.
Blackburn with Darwen
The Local Plan 2021-2037 releases a significant area of land from the Green Belt located at Junction 5 of the M65 in Blackburn. As outlined in Policy CP10: The Economy (and Growth Site Allocation E179) this strategic site is allocated for development to enable the Borough’s identified employment requirements to be met in full over the plan period and represents a key part of the employment strategy of the Plan. Additional land adjacent to the proposed allocation is also removed from the Green Belt and safeguarded to allow for longer-term employment needs to be met. This will ensure that the revised Green Belt boundary will have permanence and endure beyond the Plan period in line with the NPPF.
Additional minor modifications to the existing Green Belt boundary are included on the Policies Map. These relate to improving the alignment of the Green Belt with the borough boundary to address mapping anomalies from the previous Local Plan which did not include the same level of digitisation and online map provision. These can only be rectified through a Local Plan review process.
Bolton
Places for Everyone, the long-term plan for 9 of the 10 Greater Manchester districts, was adopted on 21 March 2024 and designates and de-designates Green Belt land within the 9 districts within the Plan.
Within Bolton, 3 site allocations at: Bewshill Farm (Policy JP Allocation 4); Chequerbent North (Policy JP Allocation 5); West of Wingates/ M61 Junction 6 (Policy JP Allocation 6) resulted in the de-designation of Green Belt land . An area of land at Horwich Golf Club/ Knowles Farm, Horwich was designated as new Green Belt land (Policy Green Belt Addition 1).
Bury
Places for Everyone, the long-term plan for 9 of the 10 Greater Manchester districts, was adopted on 21 March 2024 and designates and de-designates Green Belt land within the 9 districts within the Plan.
Within Bury, Green Belt was de-designated in site allocations at Seedfield (JP Allocation 8), Walshaw (JPA9), Pilsworth (JPA1.1), Simister (JPA1.2), and around Elton Reservoir (JPA7). Land was designated as Green Belt in Bevis Green (Green Belt Addition 2), Woolfold (GBA 3), and Chesham (GBA 4).
East Hertfordshire District Council
In the Watton-at-Stone Neighbourhood Plan, the Green Belt boundary has been amended to extend the Village Development Boundary to include the 2 housing site allocations WAS 3 (Walkern Road) and WAS 4 (Stevenage Road). These are detailed on the Policies Map in the Plan. The justification for this amendment is set out in Policy WAS 2 of the Plan.
Leeds
The Leeds Site Allocations Development Plan Document - Sections 1 and 2 has a section on Green Belt Review at para 2.89: “The Core Strategy sets the context for a Green Belt review in Spatial Policy SP10. An assessment of sites against the purposes of Green Belts as set out in the National Planning Policy Framework (March 2012) has been carried out where relevant. Policy EG2 applies to general employment allocations or mixed use allocations which include general employment use.”
The Leeds Site Allocations Development Plan - Section 3 allocates sites for general employment or mixed use including general employment in accordance with Core Strategy Policy SP9, with specific site requirements being detailed under the allocation concerned in Section 3. These allocations are shown on the policies map. In East Leeds, these allocations are EG2-37 Barrowby Lane, Manston LS15, 21.2 ha and EG2-27 Manston Road, Leeds, LS15 8SX, 3.4 ha.
Manchester
Places for Everyone, the long-term plan for 9 of the 10 Greater Manchester districts, was adopted on 21 March 2024 and designates and de-designates Green Belt land within the 9 districts within the Plan.
Within Manchester, an allocation at MediPark (Policy JPA3.1) resulted in the de-designation of Green Belt land. In addition, areas of land in Manchester running south east from MediPark, and along the M56 motorway, were de-designated. These are adjacent to the Timperley Wedge allocation in Trafford MBC.
Oldham
Places for Everyone, the long-term plan for 9 of the 10 Greater Manchester districts, was adopted on 21 March 2024 and designates and de-designates Green Belt land within the 9 districts within the Plan.
Within Oldham, 7 site allocations at: Stakehill (Policy JP Allocation 2); Beal Valley (Policy JP Allocation 10); Bottom Field Farm (Woodhouses) (Policy JP Allocation 11); Broadbent Moss (Policy JP Allocation 12); Chew Brook Vale (Robert Fletchers) (Policy JP Allocation 13); Land South of Coal Pit Lane (Ashton Road) (Policy JP Allocation 15); and South of Rosary Road (Policy JP Allocation 16) resulted in the de-designation of Green Belt land. No new Green Belt land was added.
Rochdale
Places for Everyone, the long-term plan for 9 of the 10 Greater Manchester districts, was adopted on 21 March 2024 and designates and de-designates Green Belt land within the 9 districts within the Plan.
Within Rochdale, 2 cross-boundary allocations and 5 allocations just inside the Rochdale boundary have resulted in the de-designation of Green Belt land. These are: Policy JP Allocation 1.1 Northern Gateway (Heywood / Pilsworth); Policy JP Allocation 2 Stakehill; Policy JP Allocation 17 Bamford/Norden; Policy JP Allocation 18 Castleton Sidings; Policy JP Allocation 19 Crimble Mill; Policy JP Allocation 20 Land North of Smithy Bridge; and Policy JP Allocation 21 Newhey Quarry. Two areas of land were designated as new Green Belt within the borough: Policy Green Belt Addition 5: Land west of Stakehill Business Park and Policy Green Belt Addition 6: Land at Summit, Heywood.
Salford
Places for Everyone, the long-term plan for 9 of the 10 Greater Manchester districts, was adopted on 21 March 2024 and designates and de-designates Green Belt land within the 9 districts within the Plan.
Within Salford, 3 site allocations at Land at Hazelhurst Farm (JP Allocation 24), East of Boothstown (JP Allocation 25), and Port Salford Extension (JP Allocation 26) resulted in the de-designation of Green Belt land. New areas of Green Belt were designated at Land South West of Slack Brook Open Space (GB Addition 7), Part of Logistics North Country Park (GB Addition 8) and Land West of Burgess Farm (Green Belt Addition 9).
Tameside
Places for Everyone, the long-term plan for 9 of the 10 Greater Manchester districts, was adopted on 21 March 2024 and designates and de-designates Green Belt land within the 9 districts within the Plan.
Within Tameside, 3 site allocations at: Ashton Moss West (Policy JP Allocation 27); Godley Green Garden Village (Policy JP Allocation 28) and South of Hyde (Policy JP Allocation 29) resulted in the de-designation of Green Belt land. Eight areas of land were designated as new Green Belt at: Fox Platt, Mossley (Policy Green Belt Addition 10); Manor Farm Close, Waterloo, Ashton-Under-Lyne (Policy Green Belt Addition 11); Cowbury Green, Long Row, Carrbrook, Stalybridge (Policy Green Belt Addition 12); Woodview, South View, Carrbrook, Stalybridge (Policy Green Belt Addition 13); Broadbottom Road, Broadbottom (Policy Green Belt Addition 14); Cemetery Road, Denton (Policy Green Belt Addition 15); Hyde Road, Mottram (Policy Green Belt Addition 16); and Ashworth Lane, Mottram (Policy Green Belt Addition 17).
Trafford
Places for Everyone, the long-term plan for 9 of the 10 Greater Manchester districts, was adopted on 21 March 2024 and designates and de-designates Green Belt land within the 9 districts within the Plan.
Within Trafford, the changes to the Green Belt boundary relate to the removal of the strategic allocations at Timperley Wedge (PfE Policy JPA3.2) and New Carrington (PfE Policy JPA30) from the Green Belt for development. There is also one addition to the Green Belt in Trafford at Midlands Farm, Moss Lane. This is Green Belt Addition (GBA) 18 in the Plan.
Wakefield
The Green Belt boundary in the Wakefield district was amended when the council adopted the Wakefield Local Plan on 24 January 2024, as confirmed by paragraph 6.131 of the Local Plan Strategy and Policies document.
The Green Belt was amended to allocate land for housing and employment uses to ensure sufficient land was available to meet identified housing and employment requirements during the plan period 2017-2036.
Warrington
The amount of land removed from the Green Belt in the final Adopted Local Plan 2021/22 - 2038/39 is 390 hectares, lower than the 1,210 hectares proposed to be removed from the Green Belt in the previous Proposed Submission Version Local Plan (2019) and the 580 hectares in the Updated Proposed Submission Version Local Plan (2021).
Welwyn Hatfield
The Welwyn Hatfield Local Plan 2016-36 was adopted on 12 October 2023 to meet the need for housing and employment land. The Plan identified land to be released from the Green Belt and its boundaries have therefore been amended, where exceptional circumstances existed. This is set out in Policy SP3 of Local Plan and the associated policies maps.
Wigan
Places for Everyone, the long-term plan for 9 of the 10 Greater Manchester districts, was adopted on 21 March 2024 and designates and de-designates Green Belt land within the 9 districts within the Plan.
Within Wigan, 3 site allocations at: M6 Junction 25 (Policy JP Allocation 31); North of Mosley Common (Policy JP Allocation 32) and West of Gibfield (Policy JP Allocation 34) resulted in the de-designation of Green Belt land (pages 455-473). A small area of land at Fir Tree Street, Ince was designated as new Green Belt land (Policy Green Belt Addition 19).
9. Technical notes
Please see the accompanying technical notes document for further details.
10. Enquiries
Date of next release: October/November 2025
Media enquiries: 0303 444 1209 newsdesk@communities.gov.uk
Public enquiries and responsible statistician: Elizabeth Gabriel
Email: planning.statistics@communities.gov.uk
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