Greenbelt Land

The Green Belt is fundamentally a concept for controlling metropolitan growth.

First introduced around London by Dancan Sandys, a minister of housing, the greenbelt is essentially a ring of countryside that prevents urban sprawl. Development on green belt can only be permitted in very special circumstances, for instance, there may be an acute housing need in that specific area.

Green belts were introduced after the culmination of over fifty years of environmentalist pressure with roots in the Garden Cities Movement and widespread academic interest in combating urban sprawl, as well as pressure from campaign groups such as the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).

The concept of "Green Belt" has evolved in recent years to include "Greenspace" and "Greenstructure".

According to Planning Policy Guidance Note 2 *, there are five declared purposes of including land within the Green Belt:

• To check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas
• To prevent neighbouring towns from merging into one another
• To assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment
• To preserve the setting and special character of historic towns
• To assist in urban regeneration, by encouraging the recycling of derelict and other urban land.

Once an area of land has been defined as Green Belt, prospects and benefits include:

• Providing opportunities for access to the open countryside for the urban population
• Providing opportunities for outdoor sport and outdoor recreation near urban areas
• The retention of attractive landscapes and the enhancement of landscapes, near to where people live
• Improvement of damaged and derelict land around towns
• The securing of nature conservation interests
• The retention of land in agricultural, forestry and related uses.

* PPG2 is the Government Policy Regulation that controls the use of greenbelt. It allows local authorities to redefine Greenbelt if necessary. It recommends that authorities take a long-term prospective when defining the Greenbelt and consider sustainable development issues.

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