May 2024
1.1 Officers within Leicester and Leicestershire have worked jointly to prepare a statement on the consistency of the green wedge designation with the revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) which was published in December 2023. This statement replaces the Joint Statement which was prepared previously by Officers when the NPPF was first introduced in March 2012. The purpose of this Statement is to set out the continued support for the green wedge designation within Leicester and Leicestershire and that the designation is consistent with national policy, specifically the NPPF and other statements of national planning policy1.
1.2 Green Wedge policies were introduced in the Leicestershire Structure Plan in 1987 and continued to be identified in subsequent Structure Plans in 1994 and 2005. The East Midlands Regional Plan (2009) (now revoked) did not contain a policy on green wedges; however, it identified four functions of a green wedge which included preventing the merging of settlements, guiding development form, providing a green lung into urban areas and acting as a recreational resource. The Regional Plan emphasised that green wedges were a local planning designation and stipulated that a review of existing green wedges or the creation of new ones in association with development should be carried out through the Local Development Framework process which was in place at the time of the Regional Plan's adoption.
1.3 Since the removal of the regional tier of planning policy, Leicester and Leicestershire Local Authorities have continued to work together on strategic matters. The Green Wedge is a strategic designation which crosses administrative boundaries and so a Leicester and Leicestershire Green Wedge Review Joint Methodology was prepared in 2011 so that a consistent approach could be taken and is still used. The Methodology was agreed by the following six local authorities Charnwood (CBC), Harborough (HDC), Hinckley and Bosworth (HBBC), Leicester City (LCC), North West Leicestershire (NWLDC) and Oadby and Wigston (OWBC). Blaby District Council (BDC) and Melton Borough Council (MBC) are part of the Leicestershire Housing Market Area but were not part of the joint methodology. Melton Borough Council do not have any green wedges within their administrative boundaries. The Joint Methodology is a Background Paper to this Statement and should be considered alongside it.
1.4 Each of the local planning authorities undertook a Green Wedge Review using the Methodology either in its entirety or using it as a basis to produce the necessary Green
1 Paragraph 35 d) of the National Planning Policy Framework (2023) ( National Planning Policy Framework (publishing.service.gov.uk))
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