84% of people in England believe that Green Belt land should remain open and undeveloped, and that building on Green Belt land should not be allowed{1}. The results of a MORI poll{2} for CPRE{3} are unveiled today (Wednesday), exactly 50 years since publication of the original Government circular instructing councils to look at setting up Green Belts{4}.

The birthday poll found wide public awareness of Green Belts.{5} People feared the biggest threats facing them were housebuilding, road building and other kinds of built development including airport expansion.{6}

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Hundreds of people have also written postcards telling Government why they value Green Belts.{7} A sample of local comments from every English region.  We're still gathering postcards — to get yours see our Green Belt campaign section on the website or email campaigns@cpre.org.uk, or ring 020 7981 2869.

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Unveiling the poll findings, CPRE's Head of Planning, Henry Oliver, said:

'Today we're celebrating the 50th birthday of Green Belts in England.  This poll shows they have very wide public recognition and strong support.'

Yet despite that, today Green Belts are under threat as never before:

• Government plans for massive housing growth in the wider South East threaten to relax the Green Belt that has held the line against urban sprawl for decades{8}.
• Land speculators are selling Green Belt plots to gullible investors for silly prices way above agricultural value{9}.
• Proposed new roads and airport runways cast a concrete blight over some of our finest countryside within easy reach of big urban areas{10}.

'Green Belts need to be resolutely defended from these threats, yet even professional planners, who should be their strongest defenders, sometimes scoff at Green Belt as too simple and too restrictive to be a 'proper' planning tool.

'They and the Government need to listen to the vast majority of people who, as our poll shows, are Green Belt fans. They recognise that Green Belts are vital for protecting the countryside that matters most: the countryside around towns, which most people can get to and enjoy close to home.'

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People are showing they care by walking and cycling through Green Belts across the country this summer. On 21 August CPRE members around London will be walking the London Green Belt.  September sees a CPRE bike ride visiting the West Midlands, Gloucester-Cheltenham, Cambridge, Oxford and London Green Belts.{11}

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Henry Oliver concluded:

'It's great that we're celebrating half a century of Green Belts and that the public are 'walking the talk'. It's about time the Government did too, by taking effective action to safeguard existing Green Belts{12} and supporting the creation of new ones.'{13}

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NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. When asked 'How much, if at all, do you agree or disagree that Green Belt land should remain open and undeveloped, and building on it not allowed?', a total of 84% were in agreement, comprising 61% strongly agreeing with the policy and 23% tending to agree. They were answering a question which explained what Green Belts are, what their purpose is and that 'some would argue that Green Belts are preventing necessary development from happening in the best place.' The full text of the questions asked is available from CPRE's Press Office.

2. Source: CPRE Green Belt Omnibus Questions, conducted by MORI between 30 June and 4 July 2005.  Face-to-face, in-home  interviews were conducted with a nationally representative 931 respondents aged 15+ across England. Results were weighted to age, working status, gender and region. For other poll findings see Notes 5 and 6 below.

3. CPRE exists to promote the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England by encouraging the sustainable use of land and other natural resources in town and country. We promote positive solutions for the long-term future of the countryside to ensure change values its natural and built environment. Our Patron is Her Majesty The Queen. We have 60,000 supporters, a branch in every county, nine regional groups, over 200 local groups and a national office in London. CPRE is a powerful combination of effective local action and strong national campaigning. Our President is Sir Max Hastings.

4. The Ministry of Housing and Local Government's Green Belt Circular 42/55 — which gave strong national encouragement to the creation of Green Belts — was issued in August 1955. London's first Green Belt was established before World War Two. CPRE has been campaigning for Green Belts since it was founded in 1926.

5. The MORI poll found that 27% of people said they knew 'a great deal' or 'a fair amount' about Green Belts. 47% knew 'a little' about them and a further 12% had heard of them.

6. Given a list of nine things which may threaten Green Belt land and asked to identify which, if any, were 'the one or two most serious threats facing Green Belts today', the sample answered as follows: House building — 66%, road building — 39%, other types of development (e.g. factories, offices, warehouses and out-of-town shopping centres) — 29%, airport expansion — 23%, illegal rubbish dumping — 23%, impact of farming — 6%, neglect/abandonment — 5%. 4% said Green Belts were not threatened, whilst 2% said the threats was none of the above. Percentages sum to greater than 100 because each respondent could answer with up to two threats.

7. When it launched its Green Belt campaign at the end of May, CPRE asked people around the country to fill in a postcard or online form stating why Green Belt is important to them — and, so far, over 800 have. CPRE intends to deliver the postcards to the Government in the autumn.

8. As part of the Government's Sustainable Communities Plan, Green Belt boundaries are being reviewed in three of the Government's four 'growth areas' in the Greater South East : in the Upper Lee Valley around Bishop's Stortford, north and west of Stevenage and north of  Harlow (all in the London-Peterborough growth area); near Thurrock, south Essex (in the Thames Gateway growth area); around Luton, Dunstable, Houghton Regis, Leighton Buzzard and Linslade (in the Milton Keynes and South Midlands growth area).

9. The Green Belt reviews being promoted under the Sustainable Communities Plan (see note 8 above) undermines their permanency — one of their most important characteristics.  In recent years several companies have begun to offer undeveloped Green Belt land for sale to the public at vastly inflated prices, far above agricultural values, on the basis that one day it will be possible to build on this land. The landscape is disfigured by the erection of fences and posts to mark out small plots for speculative sale. These plots are too small for proper land management and the land becomes neglected when disappointed owners discover there is little prospect of planning permission being given for housing development.

10. A new CPRE briefing, Green Belts, 50 years on (available from the Press Office) identifies a range of threats to Green Belts in addition to those mentioned above, including airport expansion, new sports stadia, university expansion, park and ride sites and the proposed toll motorway running parallel to the M6 between Birmingham and Manchester.

11. Contact CPRE campaigns team (campaigns@cpre.org.uk, 020 7981 2869) to find out more.

12. On 18 July the Government published a draft 'Green Belt Direction' for consultation. The consultation runs until 14 October. While presented as a positive measure to improve the protection of Green Belts, the Direction would merely make current arrangements, whereby local authorities refer planning applications that would affect Green Belt land to the Secretary of State, a formal requirement. The Government itself confirms that this would have little or no effect on Green Belt protection when it says in the consultation paper  'It is not the intention of the new Green Belt Direction to increase the number of planning applications that the Secretary of State calls in for  his own determination'.

13. CPRE's briefing suggests Lincoln, Northampton, Milton Keynes, Ashford, Warrington, North Kent, South Essex and Teesside could all have their own Green Belts. We would also like to see measures for better management of existing Green Belts, combining farming, wildlife and improved access and quiet recreation for people living in the towns and cities next to them.