The Paragraph 80 (Para 79) clause of the National Planning Policy Framework, and its previous guises of PPS7 and PPG7, allows new homes to be built in the countryside, including in the green belt. The policy allows the possibility for a client to build an unprecedented home on a piece of land that would otherwise be unsuitable for development and to commission and own a unique piece of architecture.

The majority of national planning policy is strongly weighted against development in open countryside.The network of designated green belts has been established to prevent urban sprawl, limiting rural development to agricultural uses. Paragraph 80 is a clause that leaves open a route through planning policy for landowners hoping to build their own home.