Green Belts Shrink Despite Prescott Pledge

02.02.07

Green Belts have shrunk in most of England's regions since 2004, despite a pledge by the Deputy Prime Minister that they would grow in every region, and more recent reassurances by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

In 2003 John Prescott MP told Parliament: 'Today, I give the House a guarantee to maintain or increase Green Belt land in every region in England'. [1] Last Monday (29 January 2007), Ruth Kelly MP stated that 'Local authorities should continue to contain urban sprawl, assist urban regeneration and protect important green space... Green Belt policy has served us well, and must continue to do so'. [2]

Yet Government figures issued last week [3] show that since 2004 the total Green Belt area has shrunk in London and the South East, East Anglia, the North West and the East and West Midlands.

There has been no change in the North East. Only in the South West and in Yorkshire and the Humber has the total Green Belt area actually grown. [4]

CPRE [5] planning campaigner Paul Miner said: 'The Government likes to talk about its commitment to the Green Belt, and gives as proof how the total area of Green Belt across England is expanding.

'But it's really worrying that in most English regions the amount of Green Belt has recently shrunk, despite Mr Prescott's explicit promise this would not happen. All the more so following Kate Barker's recent questioning of Green Belt policy.' [6]

Some new Green Belt land has been designated across England by planners, but elsewhere it is being lost. Government figures state that since 1995 an average of 845 hectares of Green Belt land - more than three square miles - are being lost to development each year.' [7]

Paul Miner added: 'Green Belts are meant to permanently stop sprawl and protect the countryside next to larger towns and cities. For many of us, that countryside is getting further and further away as the Green Belt gets constantly nibbled at.' [8]

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. Statement to the House of Commons on the Communities Plan, 5 February 2003.

2. Ruth Kelly MP, Moving Towards the Planning White Paper speech dated 29 January 2007. The Minister stated: 'Let me be clear, we remain committed to the principles of the Green Belt approach. Local authorities should continue to contain urban sprawl, assist urban regeneration and protect important green space.

Since 1997, we've seen the amount of Green Belt land across the country grow by 64,000 acres. Green Belt policy has served us well and must continue to do so.'

3. Communities and Local Government News Release 2007/0016, 31 January2007 , Local planning authority Green Belt statistics: England 2006. In the North West the total Green Belt area fell by 280 hectares between2004 and 2006, in the East Midlands by 580 hectares, the West Midlands by 204 hectares, and in East Anglia (Cambridgeshire, Norfolk andSuffolk) by 448 hectares. In London and the wider South East (the counties of the South East region plus Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire andEssex) the Green Belt area fell by 47,524 hectares. However, the great bulk of this decline was due to Green Belt land within the new New Forest National Park being redesignated as National Park land - it should therefore continue to have protection from development. Once this is taken into account, the overall area of Green Belt in the wider South East of England, the most built up and pressurised region in the country, fell by 224 hectares.

4. The Green Belt area grew by 2,290 hectares overall in Yorkshire and the Humber between 2004 and 2006 and by 380 hectares in the South West.
Across England as a whole the total Green Belt area grew by 900 hectares, discounting the New Forest redesignation of land from Green Belt to National Park referred to in the note above.

5. CPRE, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, is a charity which promotes the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England. We advocate positive solutions for the long-term future of the countryside.
Founded in 1926, we have 60,000 supporters and a branch in every county.
President: Sir Max Hastings. Patron: Her Majesty The Queen.

6. Barker Review of Land Use Planning Final Report, December 2006, commissioned by HM Treasury.

7. Department for Communities and Local Government, Land Use Change in England to 2005, LUCS-21A, Table D.5, October 2006.

8. Green Belts cover 13% of England's total land area. CPRE, which campaigned for their creation since we were founded in 1926, says they are one of our best known, most popular and most effective planning designations. The purposes of Green Belt are to:

• check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas;
• prevent neighbouring towns from merging into one another;
• assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment;
• preserve the setting and special character of historic towns; and
• assist in urban regeneration, by encouraging the recycling of derelict and other urban land.
  

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