Our view
Green Belts, with their public rights of way, give people access to the countryside. Photo: Campaign Against Stevenage Expansion
What we need
We want to see a strong commitment by the Government to uphold existing policy and carry out an urgent review of the latest threats to the Green Belt.
Find out more in our briefing:
> Green Belts: robustly protected or under threat? (PDF 94K)
Being inflexible is a good thing
What makes Green Belts effective is confidence in their permanence.
The long-term security of Green Belt land is needed to encourage urban regeneration and long-term improvements in the Green Belt, such as the creation and maintenance of country parks or community forests.
Controls need to be enforced
There needs to be a serious effort to crack down on abuses of planning controls on Green Belt land. We are calling on the Government to change the law so that local authorities can take action against speculative landbankers without Government approval.
We do not accept the argument that the only way to tidy up Green Belt land is to build on it. Local authorities have special planning powers that can force landowners to clean up land that is untidy (because of things such as abandoned vehicles or rubbish).
