85% Of Northerners Say 'Hands Off Our Green Belts'

85% of people in northern England believe that Green Belt land should remain open and undeveloped, and that building on Green Belt land should not be allowed. The results of a MORI poll for CPRE were unveiled exactly 50 years since publication of the original Government circular instructing councils to look at setting up Green Belts. The birthday poll found wide public awareness of Green Belts. People in the North of England feared the biggest threats facing them were housebuilding, road building and other kinds of built development.

Unveiling the poll findings, CPRE's Head of Planning, Henry Oliver, said: 'Today we're celebrating the 50th birthday of Green Belts in England. This poll shows they have very wide public recognition and strong support.'

Yet despite that, today Green Belts are under threat as never before:

• Proposed new roads, airport runways and other kinds of building cast a concrete blight over some of our finest countryside within easy reach of big urban areas.
• Government plans for massive housing growth in the wider South East threaten to relax the Green Belt that has held the line against urban sprawl for decades.
• Land speculators are selling Green Belt plots to gullible investors for silly prices way above agricultural value.

'Green Belts need to be resolutely defended from these threats, yet even professional planners, who should be their strongest defenders, sometimes scoff at Green Belt as too simple and too restrictive to be a 'proper' planning tool. 'They and the Government need to listen to the vast majority of people who, as our poll shows, are Green Belt fans. They recognise that Green Belts are vital for protecting the countryside that matters most: the countryside around towns, which most people can get to and enjoy close to home.'

Henry Oliver concluded: 'It's great that we're celebrating half a century of Green Belts and that the public are 'walking the talk'. It's about time the Government did too, by taking effective action to safeguard existing Green Belts and supporting the creation of new ones.'