Are Gypsy and Traveller sites exempt from Green Belt policy?
No. Government policy does allow for exceptions to be made to Green Belt policy where applicants can demonstrate that very special circumstances exist which outweigh the harm to the Green Belt. The lack of suitable alternative sites to meet an identified need could be put forward as part of a case of very special circumstances. Government advice in Circular 01/2006 states: “Alterations to the Green Belt boundary can be used in exceptional circumstances for housing and other types of development inappropriate for the Green Belt. Such alterations have often been used in cases where a local authority’s area contains a high proportion of Green Belt land and no other suitable sites outside the Green belt exist. Such an exceptional limited alteration to the defined Green Belt boundary could be considered to meet a specific, identified need for a Gypsy and Traveller site in the same way such an alteration could be used for any other type of development.
