In British town planning , the green belt is a policy for controlling urban growth . The term, coined by Octavia Hill in 1875, refers to a ring of countryside where urbanisation will be resisted for the foreseeable future, maintaining an area where local food growing, forestry and outdoor leisure can be expected to prevail. The fundamental aim of green belt policy is to prevent urban sprawl by keeping land permanently green, and consequently the most important attribute of green belts is their openness .
50-511: The North West Green Belt is a green belt environmental and planning policy that regulates the rural space throughout mainly the North West region of England . It is contained within the counties of Cheshire , Derbyshire , Greater Manchester , Lancashire , and Merseyside . Essentially, the function of the belt is to prevent the cities, towns and villages in the large Greater Manchester and Merseyside conurbations from merging. It
100-648: A 'green web' to replace the green belt in some locations. The ambition is to create a "multifunctional green infrastructure landscape" in which new-build and publicly accessible natural space sat side by side. Research undertaken by the London School of Economics in 2016 suggests that by 1979, the area covered by green belt in England comprised 721,500 hectares, and by 1993, this had been extended to 1,652,310 hectares. Several academics, policy groups and town planning organisations in recent years have criticised
150-625: A belt of some 7–10 miles wide). The motives for a green belt around London were not just environmental, Frank Pick the CEO of the London Passenger Transport Board made an economic case; he believed that London Underground had a finite potential capacity which would be breached by the growth of the city's population and overall physical size. Pick presented this case to the Barlow Commission (Royal Commission on
200-468: A more flexible policy which would allow the introduction of green wedge and strategic gap policies rather than green belts, and so permit the expansion of some urban areas. In October 2007, Sir Martin Doughty , then Chair of Natural England , argued for a review of green belts, saying: "The time has come for a greener green belt. We need a 21st century solution to England's housing needs which puts in place
250-428: A need to be met in locations with appropriate environmental capacity". The Economist has criticised green belt policy, saying that unless more houses are built through reforming planning laws and releasing green belt land, then housing space will need to be rationed out. In March 2014, it was noted that if general inflation had risen as fast as housing prices had since 1971, a chicken would cost £51; and that Britain
300-583: A network of green wedges, gaps and corridors, linking the natural environment and people.". Similarly, the London Society published a comprehensive history of the green belt (as it emerged in the first part of the twentieth century) in 2014. Authored by the influential English urbanist Jonathan Manns, this called for a "move away from the simplistic and naïve idea that countryside is a sacrosanct patchwork of medieval hedgerows and towards an empirically informed position which once more recognises housing as
350-560: A railway station actually travelled to London by train on a regular basis with the vast majority (72%) travelling by private vehicle to jobs in their hometown and to other places not within London. Thus the proposal put forward in the Adam Smith report could result in 3.96 to 7.45 million additional car journeys per week on already congested roads around London. CPRE say it is a myth to connect green belts to rising house prices, since there
400-476: A reserve supply of public open spaces and of recreational areas and to establish a green belt or girdle of open space". It was again included in an advisory Greater London Plan prepared by Patrick Abercrombie in 1944 (which sought a belt of up to six miles wide). However, it was some 14 years before the elected local authorities responsible for the area around London had all defined the area on scaled maps with some precision (encouraged by Duncan Sandys to designate
450-714: Is Sarah Healey who took up her post in February 2023. MHCLG was formed in July 2001 as part of the Cabinet Office with the title Office of the Deputy Prime Minister ( ODPM ), headed by the then Deputy Prime Minister , John Prescott . In May 2002 the ODPM became a separate department after absorbing the local government and regions portfolios from the defunct Department for Transport, Local Government and
500-460: Is "building less homes today than at any point since the 1920s". According to the Institute of Economic Affairs , there is "overwhelming empirical evidence that that planning restrictions have a substantial impact on housing costs" and are the main reason why housing is two and a half times more expensive in 2011 than it was in 1975. The free market Adam Smith Institute is a particular critic of
550-702: Is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom . It is responsible for housing , communities , and local government in England . It was established in May 2006 and is the successor to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, established in 2001. The department shares its headquarters building, at 2 Marsham Street in London, with the Home Office . There are corresponding departments in
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#1732773017667600-534: Is an important element of sustainable development and makes an essential contribution to Scotland's economy and cultural heritage.” The term emerged from continental Europe where broad boulevards were increasingly used to separate new development from the centre of historic towns; most notably the Ringstraße in Vienna . Various proposals were put forward from 1890 onwards but the first to garner widespread support
650-588: Is clear that the purpose of green belt designation in the development plan as part of the settlement strategy for an area is to: However, the Scottish Government recognises that certain types of development might actually promote and support appropriate rural diversification: The Government requires that locally established green belt plans: maintain the identity of a city by the clearly establishing physical boundaries and preventing coalescence; provide countryside for recreation of denizens; and maintain
700-674: Is close to the Stoke-on-Trent belt , which is considered to be independent of the North West belt. The North West belt is contiguous with the South and West Yorkshire Green Belt along the Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire county boundary. The High Peak towns of Derbyshire, Glossop , New Mills , Hadfield , Charlesworth and Whaley Bridge are all enveloped. Small portions of separated green belt are dotted around
750-489: Is managed by local planning authorities on guidance from central government. Land area taken up by the belt is 247,650 hectares, 1.9% of the total land area of England (2010). The main coverage of the belt is within northern Cheshire and southern Lancashire, with the Merseyside and Greater Manchester urban areas completely surrounded, and a small section extending into Derbyshire. The belt area surrounding Macclesfield
800-661: Is no clear difference in house prices between cities with green belts and cities without them, and both land and house prices are inflated by other factors such as investment. Lewis Abbott has identified green belt barriers to urban expansion as one of several major protectionist political-economic barriers to house building with negative effects on the supply, cost/prices, and quality of new homes. (The others include new housing development taxes and quasi-taxes; political discrimination against particular classes of new housing supplier, household consumer, and housing product; and controls on housing technical-product development – in particular,
850-749: Is set out in Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) 21, published by the Scottish Government in February 2010. On 29 November, the Government published "Green Belt Policy in Scotland 10/85" As of 2010 Scotland had 10 green belt areas: Aberdeen , Ayr , Clackmannanshire , East Lothian , Edinburgh , Falkirk and Grangemouth , Greater Glasgow , Midlothian and Stirling . There are also plans for green belts around Dunfermline , Perth and St Andrews . The Scottish Government
900-498: The Blackpool urban area , helping to keep the settlements of Lytham St Annes , Poulton-le-Fylde , Warton / Freckleton and Kirkham separated. A distant tract of belt also separates Lancaster and Morecambe from Carnforth , Bolton le Sands , Nether Kellet and Hest Bank . Due to the belt lying across several counties, responsibility and co-ordination lies with several district councils and unitary authorities as these are
950-550: The Department for Communities and Local Government ( DCLG ). In January 2018, as part of Theresa May's Cabinet reshuffle, the department was renamed the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government ( MHCLG ). In September 2021, Boris Johnson renamed the department yet again, calling it the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities ( DLUHC ), being more powers outside of just England to manage funds across
1000-419: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) who are the present central government department maintaining responsibility for green belts, a countryside interest group, Campaign to Protect Rural England ( CPRE ) continue to group these into 14 green belt areas, the North West green belt encompassing three urban cores. The area designated as green belt land in England as at 12 October 2023
1050-764: The Scottish Government , the Welsh Government , and the Northern Ireland Executive , responsible for communities and local government in their respective jurisdictions. MHCLG's ministers are as follows, with cabinet ministers in bold: Local government finance (including local taxation, business rates and local government pensions); Local government policy (including the Office for Local Government, stewardship, local audit, and governance reform); Mayoral Combined Authorities and pan-regional bodies; Planning casework High streets and towns; Community Ownership (including Assets of Community Value and
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#17327730176671100-509: The local planning authorities . Green belt (United Kingdom) The Metropolitan Green Belt around London was first proposed by the Greater London Regional Planning Committee in 1935. The Town and Country Planning Act 1947 then allowed local authorities to include green belt proposals in their development plans. In 1955, Minister of Housing Duncan Sandys encouraged local authorities around
1150-735: The 21st century. However, while in general these concepts are quite distinct in the UK from the green belt as a statutory development plan designation, an exception occurs in London where land may be designated as " Metropolitan Open Land " (MOL). Areas of MOL are subject to the same planning restrictions as the green belt while lying within the urban area. In 2005, the European Commission 's COST Action C11 ( COST European Cooperation in Science and Technology) undertook in-depth city case studies into cities across 15 European countries. Sheffield
1200-581: The Community Ownership Fund); Funding delivery and simplification of legacy funding streams (including UK Shared Prosperity Fund, Levelling Up Fund, Levelling Up Partnerships); Investment Zones and Freeports; Elections policy and delivery; Resilience, recovery, and emergencies Grenfell Inquiry; Building safety, regulations, Building Safety Regulator and remediation; Homelessness and rough sleeping; Housing quality; Supported housing and domestic abuse; Planning casework The Permanent Secretary
1250-665: The Geographical Distribution of the Industrial Population) , arguing that if London's radius grew beyond 12–15 miles, the capital's commuter infrastructure could not cope in financial or capacity terms, to the detriment of city's overall economy. He instead made the case for a number of economically self-sufficient new towns beyond a new green belt. New provisions for compensation in the Town and Country Planning Act 1947 allowed local authorities around
1300-656: The Regions . The ODPM was criticised in some quarters for adding little value and the Environmental Audit Committee had reported negatively on the department in the past. During the 5 May 2006 reshuffle of Tony Blair's government , it was renamed and Ruth Kelly succeeded David Miliband (cabinet-level Minister of State for Communities and Local Government within the ODPM) to become the first Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government at
1350-400: The United Kingdom. On 20 February 2021, it was announced as part of the government's levelling up policy , that MHCLG would be the first government department to have a headquarters based outside of London. Five hundred posts, including those of senior civil servants, will be moving to Wolverhampton by 2025. On 23 February 2021, the then Secretary of State, Robert Jenrick , announced he
1400-751: The area of Green Belt land in New Forest DC and Test Valley BC (47,300 hectares) which were designated as New Forest National Park in 2005. In July 2024 the Labour government announced plans to prioritise building on "poor quality and ugly areas" within England's green belt, including brownfield sites, which it termed the "grey belt". Wales has one green belt, between the cities of Cardiff and Newport . Northern Ireland has 30 green belt areas, accounting for approximately 226,600 hectares, about 16 percent of its total area. Green belt policy in Scotland
1450-402: The blocking of innovative low-cost house building using new materials and production technologies). Abbott argues that the greenbelts actually defeat their own stated objective of saving the countryside and open spaces. By preventing existing towns and cities from extending normally and organically, they result in more land-extensive housing developments further out – i.e., the establishment beyond
1500-639: The city's green belt in 2014 with publication of a report entitled "Green Sprawl". Other organisations, including the Planning Officers Society, have since responded with specific calls for a review and proposals to balance land release with environmental protection. In 2016, the London Society and the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for London's Planning and Built Environment published plans for
1550-635: The country to consider protecting land around their towns and cities by the formal designation of clearly defined green belts. Green belt policy has been criticised for reducing the amount of land available for building and therefore pushing up house prices, as 70% of the cost of building new houses is the purchase of the land (up from 25% in the late 1950s). The government formerly set out its policies and principles towards green belts in England and Wales in Planning Policy Guidance Note 2: Green Belts , but this planning guidance
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1600-682: The country to incorporate green belt proposals in their first development plans . The codification of Green Belt policy and its extension to areas other than London came with the historic Circular 42/55 inviting local planning authorities to consider the establishment of green belts. This decision was made in tandem with the 1946 New Towns Act, which sought to depopulate urban centres in the South East of England and accommodate people in new settlements elsewhere. Green belt could therefore be designated by local authorities without worry that it would come into conflict with pressure from population growth. As
1650-629: The department on the same day, after being sacked for disloyalty by the prime minister, Boris Johnson . Michael Gove was reappointed as the secretary of state by the prime minister Rishi Sunak on 25 October 2022. Following the Labour Party's victory at the 2024 General Election , Angela Rayner was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 5 July 2024. The department reverted to its former name, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 8 July 2024. A Levelling Up Taskforce
1700-455: The development will outweigh the harm caused to the green belt. The NPPF sets out what would constitute appropriate development in the green belt. According to the NPPF, there are five stated purposes of including land within the green belt: Once an area of land has been defined as green belt, the stated opportunities and benefits include: Although 16 city and town urban cores are identified by
1750-687: The green belt, and has claimed that removing the green belt from land within ten minutes walk of a railway station would release enough land to build 1 million homes. In response to the claims made by the Adams Smith Institute, the Royal Town Planning Institute commissioned the Building In The Green Belt? report to look into the commuting patterns in London's metropolitan green belt. The study found only 7.4% of commuters, who lived near
1800-472: The greenbelts of new communities with lower building densities, their own built infrastructure and other facilities, and greater dependence on cars and commuting, etc. Meanwhile, valuable urban green space and brownfield sites best suited to industry and commerce are lost in existing conurbations as more and more new housing is crammed into them. Commentators such as Alan Evans and Tom Papworth have called for outright abolition of green belts, principally on
1850-664: The grounds that by inhibiting the free use of land they restrict home ownership. However, in England, where 65% of people are property-owners who benefit from scarcity of building land, the concept of "green belt" has become entrenched as a fundamental part of government policy, and the possibility of reviewing boundaries is often viewed with considerable hostility by environmental charities, neighbouring communities and their elected representatives. The general concept of "green belt" has evolved in recent years to encompass "Greenspace" and "Greenstructure", taking into account urban greenspace, an important aspect of sustainable development in
1900-592: The i9 office development on 10 September 2021. At the opening of the new office development the Secretary of State was joined by the leader of City of Wolverhampton Council Ian Brookfield and the West Midlands Mayor, Andy Street . On 6 July 2022, most of the ministers responsible for the department resigned after the Chris Pincher scandal . The secretary of state, Michael Gove , also left
1950-413: The idea and implementation of green belts in the UK. Green belt policy has been attacked as too rigid in the face of new urban and environmental challenges, principally the lack of housing available in many cities in the UK. The policy has been criticised for reducing the amount of land available for building and therefore pushing up house prices, as 70% of the cost of building new houses is the purchase of
2000-418: The land (up from 25% in the late 1950s). It has also been claimed that areas of green belt can be of unremarkable environmental quality, and may not be well managed or provide the recreational opportunities originally envisaged. The Town and Country Planning Association , an organisation heavily involved in initiating the concept several decades previously, published a policy statement in 2002, which proposed
2050-526: The landscape setting of the city in question. In its Planning Policy (129), the Scottish Government states that: “All public bodies, including planning authorities, have a duty to further the conservation of biodiversity under the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004, and this should be reflected in development plans and development management decisions. Biodiversity is important because it provides natural services and products that we rely on,
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2100-900: 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 Metropolitan Green Belt northwards to include almost all of Hertfordshire . The Metropolitan Green Belt now covers parts of 68 different Districts or Boroughs. Since 1955 London's green belt has extended significantly, stretching some 35 miles out in places. London's green belt now covers an area of 516,000 hectares, an area broadly three times larger than that of London itself. The London Society began debate about
2150-515: The performance of local government, and support[ing] its improvement". MHCLG teams have been actively supporting digitisation of town planning processes as part of the Levelling Up Mission. Under the "Proptech innovation fund", MHCLG has been funding four rounds of digitisation initiatives within various local councils in England. The department also was previously responsible for two other agencies. On 18 July 2011 Ordnance Survey
2200-570: Was estimated at 1,638,420 hectares, about 13 per cent of the land area. The distribution of green belt designated land by region of England as in 2003, 2013 and 2023 was as follows: * Counts are rounded The total area of green belt land in England since 2003 was as follows: As well as any underlying re-designations, changes in green belt area are explained in part by alterations in land designation by local authorities, and may also be influenced by improvements with measurement associated with digital mapping. Note that from 2006, estimates exclude
2250-576: Was formed in September 2021 headed by former Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane . The Levelling Up policy was not initially defined in detail, but would include: The department is responsible for UK Government policy in the following areas, mainly in England : The Office for Local Government ("Oflog"), established in 2023, is an office within the department responsible for providing "authoritative and accessible data and analysis about
2300-592: Was hopeful that staff would be working in Wolverhampton by the summer of 2021. He also announced that they were considering building a new office development in or around the city centre to house the new headquarters. The Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, suggested it should be within walking distance of local newspaper Express & Star , where he previously did work experience. With the intention to relocate some 500 members of staff to Wolverhampton, Robert Jenrick officially opened its new Wolverhampton offices at
2350-797: Was one such case study city for the UK. Conclusions were published in "Case studies in Greenstructure Planning" . Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government King Charles III [REDACTED] William, Prince of Wales [REDACTED] Charles III ( King-in-Council ) [REDACTED] Starmer ministry ( L ) Keir Starmer ( L ) Angela Rayner ( L ) ( King-in-Parliament ) [REDACTED] Charles III [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The Lord Reed The Lord Hodge Andrew Bailey Monetary Policy Committee The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government ( MHCLG )
2400-573: Was put forward by the London Society in its "Development Plan of Greater London" 1919. Alongside the CPRE they lobbied for a continuous belt (of up to two miles wide) to prevent urban sprawl, beyond which new development could occur. Implementation of the notion dated from Herbert Morrison 's 1934 leadership of the London County Council . It was first formally proposed by the Greater London Regional Planning Committee in 1935, "to provide
2450-543: Was superseded by the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) in March 2012. Planning authorities are strongly urged to follow the NPPF's detailed advice when considering whether to permit additional development in the green belt. In the green belt there is a general presumption against inappropriate development, unless very special circumstances can be demonstrated to show that the benefits of
2500-565: Was transferred to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and on 28 February 2013 the Fire Service College was sold to Capita . In January 2007, Ruth Kelly announced proposals to bring together the delivery functions of the Housing Corporation , English Partnerships and parts of the then Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government to form a new unified housing and regeneration agency,
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