Fears new homes will ‘swamp’ Yorkshire green belt

Figures published today by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) highlight what it calls “major new threats” to England’s green belts and it warns that proposals for some 80,000 new houses, new roads, open cast coal mines, airport expansion, golf courses and industrial parks nationwide could lead to land the size of Slough being built on green-belt land over the next 20 years.

In Yorkshire plans for 23,900 homes as well as an additional 139 hectares of developments are under review, with most of the development likely to take place in West and South Yorkshire.

The figures are published just two years after the coalition Government’s pledge to “maintain protection of the green belt”. A spokeswoman for the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said it still plans to keep to this commitment but speculation has mounted that Chancellor George Osborne is considering relaxing the rules to kick-start house-building.

A Treasury spokeswoman would neither confirm nor deny changes were being considered that would allow development and infrastructure projects on green-belt land, provided an equivalent sized piece of green-belt land was protected.

That would mean the amount of green-belt land would decrease nationwide, which would prove unpopular with many rural campaigners who want brownfield sites prioritised for development.

The CPRE is now encouraging the public to write to Secretary of State Eric Pickles to encourage him to keep green belts free from development.

Paul Miner, senior planning officer for the charity, said: “The green belt is the most popular planning policy in England and the envy of the world. It helps regenerate our cities and stops them sprawling into rural areas. As a result, no one is ever too far from true, green English countryside.

“In times of economic slowdown, politicians can sometimes be tempted by the false promise of an easy construction boom. But destroying the countryside is not the path to lasting economic prosperity.”

The CPRE alleges that Government planning inspectors are putting pressure on local authorities to allow building in the green belt to meet the shortfall in housing required to meet future population growth.

Jack Neill-Hall of the CPRE said that the source of the housing crisis was not a lack of available land but rather the house builders being reluctant to develop new homes owing to a lack of demand brought about by banks failing to lend to potential buyers.

The Government’s own figures show that the amount of brownfield land becoming available for re-development is far outstripping the rate at which it is being used and there is enough available for 1.5 million new homes.

Mr Miner concluded: “Ministers have consistently maintained that they value the green belt and want to see it protected. Now is the time to put these words into action.”

A DCLG spokesman said: “The green belt is an important protection against urban sprawl, providing a ‘green lung’ around towns and cities. The Coalition Agreement commits the Government to safeguarding green belt and other environmental designations, which they have been in the new National Planning Policy Framework.

“The Government is giving local communities a greater say on planning and is scrapping top-down targets.”