England’s 14 greenbelts make up approximately 13% of the land in the country totalling around 1.6 million hectares. In contrast to this, the built-up area only totals around 9%.
However, there is an ever-increasing pressure for further housing and infrastructure to be built on greenbelt land.
Greenbelts were enshrined in law by the Town and Country Planning Act of 1947. According to paragraphs 80 and 81 of the National Planning Policy Framework, the greenbelt serves five purposes:
To check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas;
To prevent neighbouring towns merging into one another;
To assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment;
To preserve the setting and special character of historic towns;
To assist in urban regeneration, by encouraging the recycling of derelict and other urban land.
Protection of the greenbelt is a highly sensitive area for the Government. Both Prime Minister Theresa May and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government – Sajid Javid – are among many Conservative MPs whose constituencies contain greenbelt land and pressure to build more housing. The party has made protection of the greenbelt a manifesto commitment, but has also pledged to tackle the housing crisis.
In the Housing White Paper (2017) it set out amended policy relating to greenbelt land stating that: “We propose to amend national policy to make clear that authorities should amend greenbelt boundaries only when they can demonstrate that they have examined fully all other reasonable options for meeting their identified development requirements” (source: Housing White Paper 2017). This approach has been included in the draft national planning policy framework which is currently out to consultation.
There will always be arguments both for and against development on greenbelt sites, with one side claiming that the increase in development is reducing Britain’s natural environment, while the other argues that the increase in development still means that only a small fraction of the country is urbanised while boosting the number of new homes built across the country.
What is undeniable is that the UK requires 300,000 homes a year to be built and the greenbelt should be considered a viable solution to help deliver this aim.
Watch out for further thoughts on this subject from the Gracechurch Group – a collective that DLBP is a part of.
