A new report by the London Green Belt Council (LGBC) highlights that as much as 48,000 acres of Green Belt is under threat. The report highlights that councils in Outer London and the Homes Counties are planning to allow developers to build on some 75 square miles of ‘protected’ Green Belt countryside and open spaces—London’s vital ‘green lung’—a totally unnecessary loss of green land, it is argued, as more than enough brownfield land is available to meet all of the region’s genuine housing needs, and the number of brownfield sites continues to increase.
The LGBC also say that altogether the amount of Green Belt land offered up for development has increased by 21% since 2021, and a massive 127% since 2016 when the LGBC first started tracking threats to London’s local countryside. The counties of Hertfordshire, Essex and Surrey account for two thirds of all current development threats to London’s Green Belt.
The report, titled Safe under us? can be download their report from our site here. (36 pages, PDF)