Green Belt Replacement Homes & Dwellings

The NPPF states that “the replacement of a building, provided the new building is in the same use and not materially larger than the one it replaces”.

While there is no definitive legal definition of “materially larger” there have been many appeals and legal cases which try to ascertain what the term means and what scale should be allowable.

In addition, each Local Planning Authority will have their own definition of what they would consider “materially larger” when considering green belt replacement homes, but often these range from around 15 – 30% from the existing dwelling.

The two different calculations can help to dictate or plan the strategy for a plot with an existing house.

Plande has a wide range of experience of green belt replacement dwellings and justifying “materially larger”. The following case-studies provide some interesting examples and are not necessarily an exhaustive list.

The brief for a green belt replacement dwelling is often to create a house either as large as possible or significantly more than either the existing house or that policies would allow. While this would normally not be acceptable we have obtained green belt replacement home planning permission for far in excess of what either policy or the LPA would normally allow.