Green Belt

What is the Green Belt?

A Green Belt is an area of land protected from development. Green Belt land surrounds cities and towns to inhibit 'urban sprawl', prevent neighbouring towns merging into one another, preserve the countryside and the setting and character of historic towns, and assist in urban regeneration by promoting 'brownfield' development (development on derelict urban land).

Green Belt land is intended to be kept permanently open.

There are 14 designated Green Belts in England. To designate a Green Belt, a local authority must prove to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister why normal planning and development control policies would not be adequate to protect a town from urban sprawl.

Green Belt land is protected both by normal planning controls and an additional presumption against 'inappropriate development' within its boundaries.


Background

The concept of the Green Belt was first mooted in 1935 by the Greater London Regional Planning Committee, which proposed providing "a reserve supply of public open spaces and of recreational areas and to establish a green belt or girdle of open space".

This was taken up by the Government in 1955 in Circular 42/55, which codified Green Belt provisions and extended the principle beyond London.

In 1988, Planning Policy Guidance 2 was issued, which reaffirmed the Government's commitment to the principle of the Green Belt, and added a requirement to take account of sustainable development. PPG2 was revised in 1995.


Controversies

Few contest the need to check urban sprawl, so the main controversy surrounding the Green Belt is the extent to which it is being eroded by planning decisions.

PPG2 leaves local authorities some leeway in interpreting what is 'inappropriate development' - there are exemptions for buildings used for agricultural and forestry, for 'essential' leisure facilities, for cemeteries, for 'limited' renovation of existing buildings and for 'limited' infilling of settlements within the Green Belt.

Countryside campaigners have long accused local authorities and the Government of allowing excessive development in Green Belts, and accuse them of undermining the principle.

In December 2006, the government-commissioned Barker report said local authorities should consider allowing construction on green belt land.

The report, written by economist Kate Barker, said low-value agricultural land adjacent to towns and cities should not necessarily be classed as green belt. Building new houses in these areas would cut commuting time and be beneficial to the environment, the report said.


Statistics

1,556,000 hectares of land make up England's Green Belt

This is 12 per cent of the area of England

The largest, surrounding London, comprises 486,000 hectares

The smallest, surrounding Burton on Trent, consists of just 700 hectares

Between 1997 and 2001, the Government considered 251 applications to develop Green Belt land

It approved 119 of those applications

(Source: 1-4: PPG2 - ODPM, 1995; 5-6: The Independent, 2002)


Quotes

"The green belt is a Labour achievement and we mean to build on it."

John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister (attributed)

"The greenbelt was meant to be an area where people could go for recreation and it has turned into a belt preventing and containing development."

Professor Alan Evans, Bristol University (BBC Radio Four, 'Today', 4/12/01)

"There is national advice and statutory direction about what constitutes a departure from local plans, but it is essentially for local planning authorities to decide whether particular planning applications justify departure."

Nick Raynsford, DTLR Minister (House of Commons, 22/4/98)