Green belt ‘under siege’ with 275,000 new homes planned

More than a quarter of a million new homes are planned for England’s “green belt”, according to new research.

Figures published by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) indicate that almost 275,000 could be built on green built land, an increase of 50,000 on last year.

The Green Belt Under Siege report is compiled from draft and adopted local plans.

The CPRE said the study showed that boundaries are being changed to accommodate housing at the fastest rate for two decades.

“In the year to 2015, 11 local authorities finalised boundary changes to accommodate development,” the organisation said. “There is particular pressure in the Metropolitan (around London) and West Midlands green belt.

“Green belt policy is gradually being weakened through loopholes in planning guidance. Under pressure from the government to set and meet high housing targets, councils are releasing green belt for new development through a misappropriated ‘exceptional circumstances’ clause. At least three local authorities – Bradford, Durham and Northumberland – have claimed that economic growth justifies an ‘exceptional’ change to the green belt.”

The CPRE said the government was breaking its own promises on protecting the green belt.

“Only last year, prime minister David Cameron claimed that the protection of the ‘precious’ green belt was ‘paramount’, reiterating the commitment made in the Conservative Party’s 2015 manifesto,” it pointed out.

“Yet last month, the secretary of state for communities and local government Greg Clark decided that 1,500 new homes should be built on green belt between Gloucester and Cheltenham in one of the biggest developments on green belt land for a decade.

“This followed proposals in the government’s planning policy consultation to release small sites in the green belt for ‘starter homes’.”

Green belt designation was formally introduced in 1955 to prevent urban sprawl.

Paul Miner, planning campaign manager at the CPRE, said: “We need stronger protection for the green belt, not just supportive words and empty promises. To build the affordable homes young people and families need, the government should empower councils to prioritise the use of brownfield sites. Brownfield land is a self-renewing resource that can provide at least one million new homes.”