Green belt review could spell end of buffer zone

10 October 2007 - Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/e

A review that could end the green belt's 50-year-role role as a buffer zone between town and countryside has been given the go-ahead by the Government's conservation advisers.

The review called for by the board of Natural England could see parts of the green belt, which takes up 13 per cent of the land in England, given over to solving the housing crisis while a network of green wedges would link urban areas to the countryside.

The proposal suggests green gaps, wedges and buffers rather than a continuous green belt Sir Martin Doughty, the agency's chairman, said later he had to accept the figure of 3m homes that the Government says must be built in the next 20 years but that Natural England wanted to put green spaces "at the heart of all new development."

He said: "We need a 21st century solution to England's housing needs which puts in place a network of green wedges, gaps and corridors, linking the natural environment and people."

He said the time had come for "a greener green belt" and that much of the land in existing green belts, established in the 1950s to contain urban sprawl, was often neglected or of poor environmental quality.

He insisted: "There needs to be a debate on where these homes should go, taking into account climate change and flood alleviation and how green infrastructure should be created for them."

The Campaign to Protection Rural England said the proposals risked "unleashing an American style swathe of car dependant sprawl that would change the face of the country, undermining the clear separation between town and country and efforts to secure urban renewal."

Natural England board members had been asked to consider a paper which proposed "a mature examination of green belt principles to see if and how they can evolve to fit 21st century circumstances."

This proposed the idea of green gaps, wedges and buffers rather than a continuous green belt, with fingers stretching out into the countryside.

The paper said that all the land within these green gaps - almost all of which is currently privately owned - "could be permanently retained and actively managed."

Other current green belt land that does not fall into that category "could be covered by policies with a general presumption against development."

They approved a review which will have three principles: putting green spaces at the heart of all new development, seeking "the most sustainable solution" for all housing taking into account "quality of life, nature conservation, landscape protection, flood mitigation and the role of a changing climate; and ensuring that the land in England's 14 green belts was "greened."

Natural England, the agency that took over from English Nature and parts of the Countryside Agency, has a remit to "conserve and enhance the natural environment."

Sir Martin said that the review would probably be conducted within two months and presented to the board's next meeting.

If approved Natural England would then draft a policy paper that would provide advice to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for Communities and Local Government.

 

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