The government’s recent clarifications that neither desperate need for housing nor waste infrastructure outweigh the protection of green belt land means the issue is set to become a key battlefield for next year’s election.
On 8 December the London Society, an organisation instrumental in shaping the idea of the green belt since 1912, will launch a position paper and debate series to address possible futures with the support of Colliers International, London School of Economics and the Royal College of Art.
Central to that discussion will be the need to move away from the idea that the countryside is a sacrosanct patchwork of medieval hedgerows and towards the recognition that housing, employment, amenity and infrastructure needs must be met.
London’s post-war green belt grew alongside a New Towns programme and declining industrial base that saw the city’s population fall to some 6m people.
Today the capital is expanding more quickly than at any point before and is set to exceed 10m residents by 2030. This has increased both the pressure on land and the importance of ensuring that sufficient land of the right type is available in the right places and at the right time.
By contrast, the green belt emerged through civic debate at the turn of the 20th century before being officially sanctioned in the wake of Patrick Abercrombie’s Greater London Plan (1944) and significantly expanded upon in the Strategic Plan for the South East (1970).
Yet, in London, the trend from conception to present day has been towards an unequivocal green sprawl from the centre outwards; with a marked increase in the second half of the last century.
This results partly from not-in-my-back-yard sentiment but also from widespread unfamiliarity with the idea’s evolution and alarm about the development pressure facing certain areas today.
We have capacity on brownfield sites and opportunities to densify existing areas but must also critically consider every option if we’re to deliver 2m new homes nationally, with associated infrastructure, by 2030.
The release of land on the city fringe, expansion of existing satellite towns or development of new settlements elsewhere each have benefits in certain situations; as does the protection of certain areas which provide access to recreational space and preserve the character of historic towns.
Now is the time to move away from a simplistic approach and recognise the full range of options available to build a better future. This is precisely the debate that’s on the horizon.
Jonathan Manns is associate director, planning, at Colliers International
