The countryside surrounding Leeds, including its towns and villages, is both rich and varied, contributing significantly to the city's unique character. It supports farming, recreation, scenic beauty, and environmental functions, all of which are protected by the Leeds Local Plan. A large portion of this countryside has been designated as Green Belt.
About the Leeds Green Belt
The Leeds Green Belt was established in 2001 under the Leeds Unitary Development Plan, 2001. Prior to that, the general extent of Green Belt was identified in the West Yorkshire Structure Plan, 1980with some areas of the district having first defined areas of Green Belt in the 1960s.
Today, Leeds Green Belt covers approximately 61% of Leeds district (33,851ha). In addition, Leeds has 2.5% (1,343ha) of Rural Land in the Northeast of the district, north of River Wharfe, which is not Green Belt.
Green Belt is a planning policy tool, to prevent urban sprawl by keeping land permanently open.
It is not an environmental, recreation or a landscape designation. The City Council depends on other policies related to biodiversity, woodlands, greenspace, and landscape to protect these designations.
Not all of Green Belt is ‘green’ or ‘greenfield’; there are pockets of developed and brownfield land.
We have an excellent track record of protecting greenfield land - with over 78% of all homes built on brownfield (previously developed) land over the past 15 years.
Only 2.7% of housing over the past 15 years has been within the Green Belt - mainly the reuse of brownfield land or redevelopment of existing buildings, including agricultural structures.
The Leeds Local Plan
We are preparing a new Local Plan, which will set the levels, location and quality of development for the next 18 years, to support sustainable development, and deliver the homes, jobs and investment that the city needs.
The government has set standardised local housing targets since 2018 - designed to help stimulate house building, address the housing crisis and provide more affordable housing.
Most new housing will be in areas already earmarked for development in the previous plan, in an expanded city centre, the inner area and opportunities along proposed transit corridors.
During public consultation in 2025 (in relation to housing growth) the council stated “The Local Plan will make as much use as possible of suitable brownfield land and increase the density of development in urban areas. This will help to minimise the need for development in the Green Belt”.
If insufficient brownfield land is available to meet housing needs, this would – in line with national guidance – be an exceptional circumstance to release land from the Green Belt (where appropriate). Any such releases would need to help meet local needs for affordable and older persons housing.
The local Plan also needs to provide land for employment (commercial/industrial) land uses alongside other uses and will consider whether Green Belt Land needs to be released to meet the needs for these uses.
Greenfield land, brownfield land, green belt and grey belt
- Green Belt: land designated to prevent urban sprawl, maintain town separation, protect countryside from encroachment, preserve historic towns, and encourage urban regeneration. Inappropriate development is highly restricted.
- Greenfield: land not previously developed; parks and local green spaces.
- Brownfield: previously developed (such as former industrial sites / car parks).
- Grey Belt: introduced by government in 2024 - Green Belt land if previously developed and/or any other land which does not strongly contribute to Green Belt purposes relating to the sprawl of large built-up areas, the merging of towns and the setting and character of historic towns.
Leeds Green Belt Assessment
Government recently introduced new guidance within the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and the Planning Practice Guidance.
To help inform decisions about where development can take place, the City Council is leading the strategic assessment of Green Belt - which includes assessing areas that may meet the new ‘Grey Belt’ criteria.
The assessment has not yet concluded how much Grey Belt land there is.
Areas (strategic parcels) classified as potential areas of Grey Belt will not be built on or taken out of the Green Belt automatically. Only the Local Plan process can change Green Belt boundaries.
Identifying ‘Grey Belt’ land as part of the Green Belt assessment is just one piece of evidence which will inform the Local Plan in the consideration of sites for allocation for development. Other factors include location, access to services, environmental impact, and infrastructure requirements. There will be an opportunity to comment on the Green Belt Assessment as part of further consultation on the Local Plan.
Speculative grey belt development
The NPPF allows developers to apply for permission on unallocated grey belt sites if councils are failing to meet needs (for example, 5-year housing targets). This is currently the situation in North Yorkshire Council and affects proposed housing sites adjacent to the Leeds boundary.
The council also need to consider applications for commercial/industrial; renewables (including energy storage) and other uses against “demonstrable unmet needs”. Leeds is keeping this under review and considering, in advance of the Local Plan on a site-by-site basis.
Conclusions
The council continues to protect the Green Belt under current Local Plan policies until updates are made through the Leeds Local Plan – currently at an early stage.
Future development of Green Belt areas will be assessed through the Local Plan using new government methodology. This is not finalised and it is not yet known what the impacts will be on the Green Belt boundary.
Any release of Green Belt land must meet unmet housing needs, be sustainable and accessible, be balanced against all other material planning considerations and is subject to public consultation and scrutiny.
