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Please sign this petition to help protect our Green Belt
Our friends at CPRE Hertfordshire have launched a national petition calling on the government to make urgent changes to the National Planning Policy Framework, warning that much of the Green Belt could be lost forever.
The revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) published in December 2024 contains inconsistencies between the NPPF paragraphs on the Green Belt and the NPPF glossary definition of ‘grey belt’.
Initially ‘grey belt’ was described as poor-quality Green Belt land like disused car parks. But the actual ‘grey belt’ definition in the recently-revised NPPF is so broad that it could include almost any Green Belt land.
CPRE Hertfordshire is warning that unless the government removes this inconsistency and Green Belt protections remain in place, the result will be an even larger increase in developers submitting speculative planning applications on Green Belt sites with the knowledge they can argue it is ‘grey belt.’
And because the government has kept the so-called ‘viability loophole’ in its planning policy, developers will seek to maximise their profits on these sites through building large executive dwellings rather than the truly affordable homes that local people need.
This is despite there being enough brownfield (previously developed) sites across England for 1.2 million new homes. These should be the priority for redevelopment to provide affordable housing, not building on greenfield sites in the Green Belt.
Abby Coften, CPRE Hertfordshire chief executive, said:
“The Green Belt is the countryside next door for most of us. The more the pace of modern life increases, the more we need this Green Belt countryside for our own health and well-being. The Green Belt also plays a vital role in mitigating climate change through carbon sequestration, improving food security through crop production, reducing flooding through surface-water retention and supporting the many wildlife species who depend on it to survive.
“If we do not act now, we will lose it forever.”
