CPRE joins environmental charities in making case to improve Green Belt

CPRE has joined forces with Wildlife and Countryside Link, along with other environmental organisations, to make a strong case for both protecting Green Belt alongside highlighting its significant value to people and planet.

In addition to its original purposes, we believe that the land around our towns and cities can deliver many more benefits for nature, climate, access and farming. And there is huge potential. Green Belt land covers 12.6% of England’s land area, clustered around fourteen urban areas such as the Metropolitan Green Belt around London and the York Green Belt. That’s approximately three times the size of Norfolk.

Yet the current debate about the Green Belt focuses more on what it blocks and not what it can offer. As an existing spatial planning designation, Green Belt land could support nature’s recovery, aid climate mitigation and adaptation, support local food systems, and provide opportunities to improve people’s health and wellbeing.

This is why we have joined with organisations such as the National Trust, Wildlife Trusts and Friends of the Earth to develop the case for improving the Green Belt and what actions are needed to make this happen.

Read the briefing here

What is the Green Belt?

Green Belts are fourteen areas of designated land which are protected from most forms of development. They have five purposes, sitting under the overall aim of preventing urban sprawl of large built-up areas through permanently maintaining belts of open land around towns and cities. Green Belts can also help safeguard the countryside from encroachment, preserve the setting and special character of historic towns and to assist in urban regeneration, by encouraging the recycling of derelict and other urban land.

Find out more about the Green Belt in our handy explainer.

The opportunities

But the Green Belt offers even more than its original functions. In the context of the nature and climate crises we face today, if the Green Belt didn’t exist, we’d want to invent it.

Nature

Previous research by CPRE shows that the Green Belt already has a higher-than-average percentage of deciduous woodland (at 19%) and is home to 34% of England’s Community Forests and 39% of Local Nature Reserves, accounting for 60% of the land created in Local Nature Reserves since 2010.

To help achieve the aim for 30% of land delivering for nature by 2030, a spatial designation like the Green Belt could play a critical role in identifying areas with potential for nature recovery. Indeed, In 2015, the Natural Capital Committee, who advised the government, recommended creating 350,000 ha of new woodland and wetland close to urban areas. Creation of new woodlands could also provide a generation of green jobs, with skills and training needed to deliver tree planting that enhances the unique local character of each place.

Farming

Agricultural land and associated buildings occupy 65% of Green Belt land. Green Belt farmland, often in the peri-urban area, has the potential to support food production and provide ecosystem services (benefits to society ranging from pollination, a space for nature, and cultural identity).

There is also potential for agricultural land within Green Belts to develop regenerative agriculture projects to showcase the benefits to soil and the wider environment.

Climate

Retaining, improving and creating habitats, including those in the Green Belt, from woodlands to species-rich permanent grasslands to hedgerows to small ponds, will help capture carbon and contribute to climate relief, as well as benefit biodiversity and provide access to nature. Globally, restoring nature has the potential to provide a third of the cost-effective climate mitigation needed to meet 2030 climate goals.

The Green Belt can also provide significant climate adaptation benefits. Research by the University of Surrey found that belts around cities can reduce urban temperatures by over 0.5°C. Using 20 years of data, researchers showed how nearby rural areas could reduce city temperatures. The biggest cooling effects happen where the rural ring around a city extends for at least half the city’s diameter. Urban overheating was mitigated more by joining up patches of rural land, planting more woodland scattered around a city and by having fewer, bigger lakes.

Access

The Green Belt is the countryside next door for almost 30 million people, or over half of England’s population, living in our large towns and cities, providing important access to nature and green space. The most recent People and Nature Survey by Natural England noted that 39% of people felt that visiting local green and natural spaces was more important than ever to their wellbeing.

And the Green Belt offers significant opportunities for people to access green space. For example, in 2016, 17% of England’s Public Rights of Way were located within Green Belt, with the density of footpaths higher in these areas compared to England as a whole. There are also 47% of country parks in England, which remain key places for people to visit and connect with nature.

CPRE wants Government to reaffirm its commitment to the Green Belt, both in development of national planning policies and by working with local councils to support the Green Belts in their areas to deliver many more benefits to people and the wider environment.