Entry level exception sites and how they qualify

An entry level exception site is a small, unallocated site adjoining an existing settlement, brought forward for homes suitable for first time buyers and others in similar circumstances. The route exists in the National Planning Policy Framework rather than in statute, which means it carries weight as policy and has to be argued against the development plan under section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. Four tests decide whether a site qualifies: it must be unallocated, it must adjoin a settlement, it must be small in relation to that settlement, and the homes must be affordable housing as the Framework defines it.

Landowners hear exception and assume the policy sets aside the plan. It does not. It creates a narrow route through a plan that would otherwise refuse the site.

What the policy allows

The policy supports the development of entry level homes on land that the development plan has not allocated for housing, where that land sits next to an existing settlement. The homes are aimed at households who would otherwise struggle to buy or rent locally, and the site is expected to be proportionate rather than a standalone extension to the village.

The logic is simple enough. Small sites on the edge of settlements are usually resisted because they lie outside a settlement boundary. Where the whole point of the scheme is affordable entry level housing, the Framework allows that benefit to outweigh the location objection, subject to the limits below.

Where it sits in national policy

The Framework was re-issued on 17 August 2026 with policy-coded chapters in place of the paragraph numbering used in earlier editions, so quote the current edition by its policy code rather than a paragraph number from an older copy. Since the policy was introduced the Framework has capped these sites at no larger than one hectare, or 5 per cent of the size of the existing settlement, whichever is the smaller. Confirm the current wording and figures on gov.uk before you rely on them.

The policy also steers these sites away from the most sensitive designations. Development within National Parks, National Landscapes and the Broads is treated differently, and an exception site argument carries much less force in those areas. Green Belt is a separate question again, where the exception site policy does not displace Green Belt policy.

Size and location limits

Three measurements decide most cases, and all three need drawing rather than asserting.

The settlement footprint calculation is where applications fall apart. Take the built-up area from the adopted plan's settlement boundary where one exists, measure it, and show the arithmetic on a plan with both areas labelled. Choosing a generous definition of the settlement to make a larger site fit is the first thing an officer will test, and it is the first thing an inspector will take apart on appeal.

Which products qualify

Entry level means affordable housing within the Framework's own definition rather than homes that happen to be inexpensive. In practice that covers affordable housing for rent, shared ownership and other intermediate products, and First Homes where the authority's policy supports them. Open market housing at a modest price is not an entry level product.

The tenure mix has to be fixed by a planning obligation under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, with the discount, eligibility and the mechanism for keeping the homes affordable in perpetuity all set out. An Affordable Housing Statement is the document that sets the mix against the adopted policy and the evidence of local need, and it is worth preparing before you approach the council rather than after.

A related but separate route exists for First Homes specifically, with its own tests and its own guidance, and our note on First Homes exception sites and their tests explains how the two differ.

An illustrative edge of settlement example

Illustrative example. A village of roughly 400 dwellings has a settlement boundary drawn in the adopted plan. A paddock of 0.6 hectares sits immediately behind the last pair of cottages, with frontage to the lane and a mains sewer in the carriageway.

The arithmetic works: 0.6 hectares is under the one hectare cap, and measured against the village footprint it falls under the proportionate limit. The site adjoins the built edge rather than standing apart from it. The scheme is 12 homes, all affordable, with a tenure split agreed with the housing officer and secured by a section 106 agreement.

What decides it is not the policy test. It is highway visibility at the field gate, the capacity of the sewer, whether the paddock is a valued local green space, and whether the parish council accepts the location. The exception site policy gets the application past the settlement boundary objection, and then the ordinary planning judgements apply. Where the authority cannot demonstrate a five year housing land supply, the balance shifts further, and our explanation of the housing trajectory and the five year buffer sets out how that works.

How it differs from a rural exception site

The two routes get used interchangeably and they are not the same thing.

A rural exception site delivers affordable housing to meet local needs in a rural area, usually in or adjoining a village, and local connection criteria are normally attached so that the homes go to people with a link to the parish. Market housing can sometimes be included to cross-subsidise the affordable element where that is necessary to make the scheme deliverable.

An entry level exception site is aimed at first time buyers and renters more generally, is not limited to rural areas, and carries the explicit size cap described above. The two policies can overlap on the same village edge, and which one you argue changes the evidence: a rural exception site needs a local housing needs survey, while an entry level site needs the proportionality arithmetic and the product definition.

Testing whether a site qualifies

Work through it in this order before spending money on design.

1. Confirm the site is not allocated, and check the emerging plan's stage and allocations.
2. Establish whether the site adjoins the built-up edge, with a plan showing the shared boundary.
3. Measure the site and the settlement, and calculate the proportion.
4. Check designations: National Park, National Landscape, Green Belt, local green space, conservation area, flood zone.
5. Agree a tenure mix and a delivery route with a registered provider, in writing.
6. Test highways, drainage and ecology at a high level, because these refuse more exception sites than policy does.
7. Take pre-application advice and ask specifically whether the officer accepts the proportionality calculation.

Set the whole case out in a Planning Statement that deals with the policy test and the ordinary development plan policies separately, because committees treat them as separate questions. Browse the full list of report types by category to see what else a site of this kind usually needs.

This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.

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