Influential voices map positive future for the Green Belt

Fourteen experts from a wide range of fields have set out their visions of a positive future to the Green Belt in a new essay collection. ‘Perspectives on the Urban Edge’ is published today by CPRE, the countryside charity in partnership with The King’s Foundation.

Drawn from worlds including law, agriculture, planning and conservation, these influential voices have a range of views. Yet all are concerned that pressures from development risk losing Green Belt land that represents the countryside next door for 30 million people in the UK.

The urgent need to fix the UK’s housing crisis has led some to call for the Green Belt to be given over to development. CPRE has long campaigned for a brownfield-first approach to housebuilding, arguing that we should make use of the shovel-ready brownfield sites that could accommodate 1.2 million homes in England alone.

Not every contributor to the new collection of essays opposes all development on the Green Belt. CPRE itself advocates for homes on previously developed Green Belt land and sensitive exceptions where new developments are delivered at a scale and cost appropriate to the needs of local communities.

The Green Belt, like the countryside as a whole, should not be preserved in aspic. All fourteen authors agree that change is needed to bring the Green Belt, introduced in the 1940s to prevent urban sprawl, into the 21st century.

As CPRE vice president Fiona Reynolds writes in her foreword, better spatial planning and new, more collaborative ways of working are required to make sure the Green Belt is somewhere ‘nature can flourish, sustainable food can be produced and access for everyone can be encouraged.’

Read the essays

Essay contributors

Dieter Helm, professor of economic policy, Oxford University

Ben Bolgar, executive director – projects team, The King’s Foundation

Kim Wilkie, strategic and conceptual landscape consultant

Baroness Barbara Young, environmental campaigner and regulator

Alan Carter, chief executive, The Land Trust

James Alcock, chief executive, Plunkett UK

Christopher Boyle, KC, Landmark Chambers

Gail Mayhew, Director, Smart Growth Associates

Vicki Hird, strategic agriculture lead, The Wildlife Trusts

Mark Walton, director, Shared Assets

Patrick Holden, founder and chief executive, Sustainable Food Trust

Dr Wei Yang, chair, Yang & Partners and CEO, Digital Task Force for Planning

Maddy Longhurst, community coordinator and campaigner, Urban Agriculture Consortium, Constructivist and Tiny House Trust Bristol

Roger Mortlock, chief executive, CPRE, the countryside charity

Celebrate what the Green Belt offers

Roger Mortlock, chief executive at CPRE said:

‘Instead of thinking about the Green Belt as a ‘blocker’, we should be celebrating what it can do for nature, farming and the wellbeing of millions of people up and down the country.

‘The idea that building on the Green Belt will solve the housing crisis is a lie. We need ambitious targets for brownfield sites, more genuinely affordable and social rented homes that the market, dominated by a small number of large players, has failed to deliver.

‘The countryside is working harder than ever to address the challenges our nation faces but we’ve got to start treating our land as the finite resource that it is. We need a strategic, cross-government approach to land use that will help the countryside provide food and energy security, nature restoration, climate change mitigation, new homes –and space for beauty, too.’

Ben Bolgar, executive director – projects team, The King’s Foundation said:

‘We’re delighted to have partnered with the CPRE to produce this enlightening new suite of essays that analyses the often-complex interface between town and country. This intersection puts into sharp physical focus how best to treat the land with respect.

‘The challenge of how to unite the two and ensure they are working together in harmony will be a defining factor in the success or failure of countryside planning over the coming years.’

Read the essays

You can read a PDF collection of the essays here. Alternatively, check back soon as we’ll be releasing the essays as individual articles on our website.