Category Archives: Blog

LGBC, CPRE and the All Party Parliamentary Group for London’s Green Belt respond strongly to the Goverment’s consulatation on assessing housing need.

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The government’s consultation on its proposed formula for assessing local housing need closed last Thursday. The London Green Belt Council, CPRE and the newly formed All Party Parliamentary Group for London’s Green Belt all submitted strongly worded responses, stressing that the proposed formula seriously threatens our precious Green Belt while doing nothing to provide the homes needed by young people, families and key workers. The responses can be found below: London Green Belt Council CPRE APPG for London’s Green Belt … Read more

Act now to Stop Green Belt release in the Autumn Budget

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The media has widely reported disagreement between the Prime Minister and the Chancellor on whether releasing Green Belt land for housing should be included in the upcoming Autumn Budget. LGBC wholeheartedly supports CPRE’s campaign to see off a further assault on the Green Belt and persuade the Chancellor that releasing Green Belt land is not the solution to the housing crisis. They have made it very easy to write to your MP to ask them to tell the Chancellor and PM that the proposals to release Green Belt for housing must be stopped. Over 6500 people who have already written to their MP. Please join them and make your … Read more

LGBC AGM Wednesday November 22, 6.30-8.30, Grimond Room, Portcullis House.

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AGM guest speakers and papers We are very lucky to have our President, Gareth Thomas MP, and Chris Nutt of the Save Oakfield Society as our guest speakers. Gareth will talk to us about the establishment of the All Party Parliamentary Group for London’s Green Belt of which he is Vice-Chair and for which LGBC will provide secretariat.  A recent article in the Ilford Recorder is testament to tenacity of Chris Nutt and his fellow campaigners which last month led to the Planning Inspector over-turning the London Borough of Redbridge’s Local Plan proposals to build on Oakfield Playing Fields on … Read more

What is wrong with the Government’s proposals for assessing housing need?

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What is wrong with the Governments proposals for assessing housing need? Our initial thoughts about the ‘Planning the right homes in the right places‘ consultation can be found here. There are many problems with the proposals but the key issues appear to be: The proposals conflates housing need with demand The housing crisis is a crisis of affordability and distribution – more of the same houses in the most expensive areas does not address this It will be impossible for neighbouring LPAs which share Green Belt constraints to prepare a ‘statement of common ground’ which preserves the integrity of the … Read more

Number of threats to London’s Green Belt doubles in just one year

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New research shows over 400 sites are now identified for housing in London’s Green Belt The London Green Belt Council [1] has today published a report ‘The accelerating loss of London’s Green Belt – who is to blame? [2]. The research shows that the threats to the London Green Belt have grown rapidly in just 12 months. The number of sites under threat from development more than doubled between July 2016 and July 2017, from 203 to 443 and the number of houses proposed on the London Green Belt increased from 123,528 to 159,304. The counties with the greatest number … Read more

Don’t let the straw that breaks the Hogs Back break London’s Green Belt – stop development on Blackwell Farm in Guildford

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Don’t want to see this? #SaveHogsBack Object to development on Blackwell Farm Guildford Borough Council’s Local Plan contains proposals for an extension to the Surrey Research Park and 1800 homes (the University of Surrey would like the figure to be closer to 3000) on Green Belt Land at Blackwell Farm. Blackwell Farm contains high quality agricultural land and is part of the iconic Hogs Back Landscape. It is featured in the Campaign to Protect Rural England‘s recent ‘The Countryside Next Door’ video as part of its ‘Our Green Belt’ campaign to highlight the value of the Green Belt (see the video clip … Read more

LGBC response to the Housing White Paper

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Thanks to our members who shared their thoughts about the Housing White Paper with us. Our key messages are: While we welcome the strengthening of the requirements to fully explore alternatives to developing on Green Belt land, they are worded in a a way that could justify the use of Green Belt land. Unless Green Belt is accepted as a constraint in meeting housing need, the Green Belt will remain under threat. We have considerable concerns about the impact that the five year cycle of Local Plans will have on the Green Belt’s permanency. There needs to be a long term strategic … Read more

LGBC Members have your say! Housing White Paper Consultation

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LGBC Members have your say! The LGBC Housing White Paper Consultation will run until April 24. Our Press Release about the White Paper can be found here LGBC will be preparing a full response to the White Paper and intends to fully engage with any consultation on calculating housing targets. We want to ensure that our response reflects the views of our members. Please email us at londongbelt@aol.co.uk by Monday April 24 to share with us one or more of the following: 1. Any responses from or discussions within your organisations about the White Paper. 2. A response to the Question 10 posed by the … Read more

New LGBC website

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The new London Green Belt Council website has been launched. It has been designed to be easier to navigate and to display sensibly on a wide range of devices. We have made it so that it is easier to post messages and communicate with our members and the wider public. We hope you like it, but don’t hesitate to let us know if you find anything wrong or have some suggestions for improving it. … Read more