§ Mr. StreeterTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what advice he gives local authorities and planning inspectors on how they should define whether a proposed development close to the edge of an existing conurbation is(a) an urban extension or (b) a new settlement. [77864]
§ Mr. McNultyThe Government's planning policies for housing are set out in PPG3 (Planning Policy Guidance note 3,Housing). PPG3 explains that planned extensions to existing urban areas are likely to prove the next most sustainable option for new housing development after building on appropriate sites within urban areas, and that new settlements can be large-scale additions to existing settlements or freestanding. PPG3 does not define urban extension or new settlement in any further detail.
The characteristics of alternative forms of new development are discussed in the 1993 Department of Environment research report Alternative Development Patterns: new settlements. Urban extensions are described as development that takes place at the edges of existing urban areas, and new settlements as urban growth that is accommodated by a new focus for development that is freestanding.