Countryside campaigners CPRE [1] are today (Wednesday) launching a survey on the future use of the Metropolitan Green Belt, the countryside surrounding London. The Mayor of London is encouraging people to respond to the survey.

The survey is one of the first steps CPRE is taking to deliver our manifesto for the countryside in 2026. [2] The manifesto calls for a countryside that provides more beautiful landscape, tranquillity, wildlife, recreation opportunities and fresh food. The Green Belt has an important role to play in achieving this.

Through the survey we aim to get the views of people who live in inner London and areas nearer to the Green Belt. We’re also keen to involve people who live in, own and/or manage land in the Green Belt. We are asking people to contribute to the survey before the end of July. [3]

The survey comes at a time when there is:

• the threat of major losses to the Metropolitan Green Belt; [4]
• a policy in the newly adopted South East Plan to improve land management in the Green Belt outside and surrounding London; [5] and;
• concern, as expressed by the Mayor of London, that some of the Green Belt has suffered from neglect. [6]

The Government is also now carrying out a high level study reviewing whether Green Belts are fit for the future. [7] 

Steve Whitbread, Director of CPRE London, said:

‘The Metropolitan Green Belt offers London a vast range of benefits. But which of these are the most important to Londoners? The Green Belt is the countryside next door to eight million people, from the inner cities to the outer suburbs. We particularly want views from Londoners who are concerned about the future of London and its countryside, but who don’t join environmental groups or respond to planning policy consultations.’

Mayor of London Boris Johnson said:

‘Our parks and green spaces are the backbone of our city, making it a great place to live, work and visit and our great city needs to be framed by a vibrant Green Belt. I would encourage Londoners to take part in the CPRE's survey on its future and make their opinions heard.’
Cedric Hoptroff, Chairman of the London Green Belt Council said:

‘We are very pleased that CPRE are carrying out a survey at this time to show planners how much people value the Green Belt.  The Green Belt is an invaluable amenity surrounding London.   It must be safeguarded as a whole, if we are to limit urban sprawl and so maintain existing communities and retain a sense of place.’

Steve Whitbread concluded:

‘By taking part in our survey, Londoners can send out a strong statement that they value their surrounding countryside and want to get more from it in future.’

INFORMATION FOR EDITORS

Online versions of the survey, and pdf versions can be found our Green Belt campaign pages. There are different survey forms for the general public and for landowners and managers.
> Green Belt campaign: survey

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NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. CPRE, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, is a charity which promotes the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England. We advocate positive solutions for the long-term future of the countryside. Founded in 1926, we have 60,000 supporters and a branch in every county. President: Bill Bryson. Patron: Her Majesty The Queen. www.cpre.org.uk

The survey forms part of CPRE’s Green Belts for a Greener Future project. The project has been made possible by a grant from Rufford Maurice Laing (www.rufford.org). In London the survey is being co-ordinated in by Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming.

2. For more details of CPRE’s 2026 – A Vision for the Countryside go to: campaigns: 2026 – A Vision for the Countryside.

3. The survey invites people to think about whether we use the Green Belt to encourage wildlife through better land management; support local farming through buying and marketing locally produced food; or create more pathways, cycleways, and woodland, as two Community Forests, Thames Chase and Watling Chase, have already been doing since 1992. CPRE will analyse and report the findings in autumn 2009. We will use the information nationally to input to the current Government study on the use of land across England, and locally in our work with local authorities on the future planning of how we use the Green Belt.

4. Development is being considered in no less than 18 locations of the Metropolitan Green Belt (see Robin Thompson Associates and Urban Studio, Approaches to Growth: Study of Sub-regions, Growth Proposals and Co-ordination in and around London, Final Report March 2008, accessed from www.london.gov.uk on 11 May 2009). In particular the widely expected plans to expand Heathrow Airport would lead to major loss of Green Belt.

5. Policy LF9 of the South East Plan, adopted on Wednesday 6 May, calls for improved management of Green Belt land, including increasing opportunities for conservation and public access. The Plan covers Green Belt land surrounding London in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Kent and Surrey. See South East Plan (final approved version, May 2009, pp.236-7).
> Government Office for the South East: South East Plan

6. See p.17 of Mayor of London, Planning for a better London, July 2008.
> Mayor of London website: Planning for a better London (1. 4MB PDF)

7. The Government think tank UK Foresight is currently carrying out a study titled Land Use Futures. The project website indicates that Foresight is likely to look carefully at Green Belts, whose primary purposes include preventing urban sprawl and protecting the countryside from encroachment. For example it states: ‘The Town and Country Planning Act 1947 … established a land use model which makes a clear distinction between urban and rural land use that is largely unaltered today. The extent to which such historical imperatives shaping land use patterns and practices are still relevant today will be explored in the project, including whether the containment strategy that separates town from country so sharply continues to be appropriate and whether the frameworks underpinning current structures and patterns deliver socially desirable and environmentally sustainable outcomes for the future.’
>  Foresight website: Land Use Futures – Summary of the process and outputs from the scoping phase

8. The London Green Belt Council is a grouping of parish councils and amenity organisations concerned with London's Green Belt as a whole, with the aim of protecting and maintaining its present extent, thus achieving its main objectives of preventing unrestricted development on surrounding countryside and the merging of neighbouring towns.