Green Belt (UK)

In UK city planning, the Green Belt is a concept for controlling metropolitan growth introduced around London, England by minister of housing Duncan Sandys via a Government Circular.

Related Topics:
City planning - London - England - Duncan Sandys

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The idea is a ring of countryside where urbanisation will be resisted for the foreseeable future, maintaining an area where agriculture, forestry and outdoor leisure can be expected to prevail. The notion dated from Herbert Morrison's 1934 leadership of the London County Council and was included in an advisory Greater London Plan prepared by Patrick Abercrombie in 1944. However, it was some 14 years before the elected local authorities responsible for the area recommended had all defined the area on scaled maps with some precision.

Related Topics:
Herbert Morrison - 1934 - London County Council - Patrick Abercrombie - 1944

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As the outward growth of London was seen to be firmly repressed, residents owning properties further from the built-up area also campaigned for this policy of urban restraint, partly to safeguard their own investments but often invoking an idealised scenic/rustic argument which laid the blame for most social ills upon urban influences. In mid-1971, for example, the government decided to extend the London Green Belt northwards to include almost all of Hertfordshire. The London Green Belt now covers parts of 68 different Districts or Boroughs.

Related Topics:
1971 - Hertfordshire

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The government issues planning guidance for the green belts defined by local authorities in England and Wales. Local Councils are strongly urged to follow this detailed advice (PPG2) when considering whether to permit additional buildings in the Green Belt or assent to new uses being made of existing premises.

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By 2003, fourteen distinct Green Belts collectively safeguarded about 13 percent of England. In order of decreasing size these are as follows:

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The introduction of green belts was the culmination of over 50 years of environmentalist pressure with roots in the Garden Cities Movement and widespread academic interest in combating urban sprawl and ribbon development, as well as pressure from campaign groups such as the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).

Related Topics:
Garden Cities Movement - Urban sprawl - Ribbon development - Campaign to Protect Rural England

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