Alice Roberts of CPRE London, a member of the London Green Belt Council, appeared on London Live news in April talking about the welcome commitments from London Mayoral candidates to protect London’s Green Belt. But Alice also pointed to the Prime Minister’s pre-election promise that the ‘Green Belt will be safe with us’, which she said has not been adhered to, and that CPRE London would be monitoring green belt planning referrals to the new Mayor to ensure promises are kept.

Richard Knox-Johnston attended a high profile event held by the RTPI in the run up to the London Mayoral 2016 election. Raising questions from the floor, Richard challenged the idea that London’s Green Belt must be released for housing to be built on it, pointing out that many thousands of houses which have been granted planning permission are waiting to be built, that there are plenty of brownfield sites aside.

Richard Knox-Johnston, Chair of the London Green Belt Council, wrote to the London Evening Standard: “Further to the report A garden of one’s own, Tom Papworth is misguided in his thinking on the Green Belt. “First, we already have excellent high density housing of 100 homes per hectare in London which is not high rise. They are the Georgian and Edwardian squares in Kensington and Chelsea which are very popular places to live. So not all dwellings have to be skyscrapers. Second, building on Green Belt land would provide expensive homes because they are built in the Green Belt, so … Read more

The Conservative candidate for London Mayor has pledged his support to local campaigners at Save Oakfield Site. In a visit to the iconic Oakfield Sports Ground he supported calls to prevent these highly valued playing fields being sold off by the Council for development through its local plan.

Chair of the London Green Belt Council, Richard Knox-Johnston has written to the Telegraph in response to the government’s consultation on the National Planning Policy Framework which suggests the building of new starter homes in the Green Belt. In his letter here – (you will need to scroll down) – Mr Knox-Johnston calls for increased action to build houses where permission has been given far more quickly. He states “If the land is released and houses built in a timely way this would reduce the pressure on greenfield areas including the highly valued Green Belt.”