Enhancing our Green Belt for a fairer greener future

The Green Belt surrounding many of our towns and cities is a vital. It is a living solution to many of the issues we face today. From the food we eat to the homes we live in, the paths we wander to the nature we cherish, this countryside next door provides so many of us with health and happiness, and has the
potential to give so much more.

We want the Green Belt – which represents 720 km2 around Bristol and Bath– to be seen and valued for what it is: a living network for our rural communities, an essential solution to the climate and nature crises, and an irreplaceable space where thousands of people, can enjoy fresh air and the great outdoors. We need our planning system to be capable of protecting the GB to ensure the health, housing,
nature recovery and climate crisis is considered and addressed. To ensure that the countryside next door lives up to all that it can be, we are focussing on the
following areas :

1. Enabling local communities to have a stronger voice in the reformed planning system, local authority plan-making and development control decisions. Our district groups and volunteers work tirelessly identifying inappropriate development and advocating for fairer planning process and decisions . In the context of increased housing targets and proposed legislation to deregulate the planning process,
their burden is getting even greater.

2. Protecting farmland on Greenbelt and supporting increased take-up of the environmental land management grants to meet the woodland creation and wetland habitat conservation targets set out in the West of England nature recovery plan.

3. Increase public access to the Green Belt by working in partnership with public health and social justice groups to campaign for the protection and enhancement of PROW and green space inclusion projects.

4. Require developers to use suitable urban brownfield sites before greenfield sites in the Green Belt and encourage local authorities to set policies prioritising urban regeneration.

5. Support rural communities within the Green Belt where they wish to use small ‘rural exception sites’ to deliver affordable and social housing on the edge of their villages, in order to meet local needs.

The time to act on this is now as the levelling Up Bill is with the House of Lords at Report Stage. The proposed legislation contained in the bill is subject to significant criticism and controversy as it undermines democracy and local control in the Planning System which will expose our precious Green Belt to increased development pressure.

Further we are gearing up for a general election in 2024, it is vital that we get ready to influence the political manifesto by using sound research evidence, building alliances, mobilising grass root support and exerting influence on key decision makers. Enabling local communities to have a stronger voice in the reformed planning system, local authority plan-making and development control decisions. Our district groups and volunteers work tirelessly identifying inappropriate development and advocating for fairer planning process and decisions . In the context of increased housing targets and proposed legislation to deregulate the planning process, their burden is getting even greater.

To find out more read CPRE’s State of the Greenbelt Report which was published in August 2023.