A study undertaken by the London Green Belt Council has found developers are threatening London's green belt land, with five out of six local authorities planning to build on protected land.
They discovered that 202,700 developments have been proposed for green belt land, an increase of 64% based on the previous two years. This is despite enough previously developed land being available in the area, over 4,934 hectares of brownfield land, to accommodate the planned new homes and many more.
The researchers stated that contrary to developers claims, building in the green belt did not create affordable housing especially for people in the South East. Findings revealed only 22% of the homes planned on land released from the green belt would meet the government’s definition of affordable.
Chair of the London Green Belt Council, Richard Knox-Johnston, urged that the government must take action to avoid irreparable damage to the integrity of London’s protected land. He added:
''Government at all levels, supported by developers, claim that development in the green belt will provide more affordable housing, especially for young people but, as this report shows, this is not the case. Young people are being cruelly misled. Councils are being pressurised by government to set targets which are much higher than the likely need and are, on occasions, forced to accept even higher housing numbers to accommodate growth from neighbouring authorities. The government should be taking steps to reduce the pressure on councils to build on green belt land by focusing on brownfield land and genuine housing need and restricting the ability of councils to de-designate Green Belt land.''
Housing minister Kit Malthouse commented: ''We are determined to build the homes our country needs, but we have been clear that the use of green belt land should be a last resort.''
