The Metropolitan Green Belt is a statutory green belt around London, England. It comprises parts of Greater London, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey, parts of two of the three districts of Bedfordshire and a small area in Copthorne, Sussex. [n 1] [1] [2] As of 2017/18, [update] Government statistics show the planning designation covered 513,860 hectares (1,269,800 acres) of land. [3]
For some years after 1580 Elizabeth I of England banned new building in a three-mile wide belt around the City of London, in an attempt to stop the spread of plague. However, this was not widely enforced, relatively short-lived and it was possible to buy dispensations which reduced the effect. [4]
The concept was also inspired by those elsewhere in Europe, one being inner buffer zones and broad boulevards to separate non-ancient parts. One re-used extensive ramparts more like protective fields to serve old city walls, the Ringstraße , in inner Vienna before 1900 in which numerous parks have been laid out.
The first major proposals for a green belt were put forward from 1890 onward, but the first to garner widespread support was put forward by the London Society (LS) in its Development Plan of Greater London 1919. The LS, alongside the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), first lobbied for a belt (initially of up to two miles wide) to prevent urban sprawl, beyond which new development could occur; this was not realised. The great interwar Britain housing boom, from 8 million homes in 1921 to 11.3 million in 1939, saw most of today's Greater London apart from its very edge developed too densely to be conferred any near-contiguous green belt status. The great increase in private motor transport continued into the 1950s. Despite new roads and the London Underground, London traffic congestion and pollution was forecast to become highly problematic unless development could be encouraged outside of a contiguous capital city. A solution emerged from study of the localised preservation of the character of the couronne périurbaine (around-town crown) surrounding Paris, and a movement to expand instead satellite towns and other towns in France. In 1947, Jean-François Gravier successfully advocated to the French government major policies to reduce "regional disparity". [5] Labour's Attlee ministry acted similarly in Britain, first enacting the New Towns Act 1946 and issuing Circulars and Planning Policies for local government councils to implement including accelerating the designation of the Metropolitan Green Belt.
The first policy groundwork to the Metropolitan Green Belt was in Herbert Morrison's 1934 leadership of the London County Council. It was first formally proposed by the Greater London Regional Planning Committee in 1935, "to provide a reserve supply of public open spaces and of recreational areas and to establish a green belt or girdle of open space". The ongoing policy decisions made were approved and entrenched in an advisory Greater London Plan prepared by Patrick Abercrombie in 1944 (which sought a belt of up to six miles, 9.7 km wide). After passage of the Green Belt Act 1938, it took 14 years for the elected local authorities responsible for the area around London to define the area on scaled maps with some precision. Following the establishment of the belt around London, feedback being received, and statements and debates in the House of Commons, other authorities nationwide were similarly encouraged in 1955 by Minister Duncan Sandys to designate a belt of all undeveloped land. As to London it was idealised to extend to land not earmarked for building "7 to 10 miles deep all around the built-up area of Greater London". [6]
New provisions for compensation in the Town and Country Planning Act 1947 allowed local authorities to incorporate green belt proposals in their first development plans. The codification of Green Belt policy and its extension to areas other than London came with Sandys' annexed Circular 42/55 urging the Clerk of the Council of all local planning authorities (impliedly who had not done so already) to establish Green Belts "wherever it is desirable....(a) to check further growth of a large built-up area; (b) to prevent neighbouring towns from merging into one another; or (c) preserve the special character of a town." [7] This decision was made in tandem with the New Towns Act 1946, which accompanied other acts turning to commercial use or low density bomb-stricken parts of Inner London, providing new homes for residents in districts of Outer London which would accept social housing and founding the post-war new towns. Created under the New Towns Act outside of the belt were Basildon, Bracknell, Harlow, Hatfield, Hemel Hempstead, Milton Keynes and Stevenage. Much funding was outlaid in new roads, railway stations and social housing. Contrasting to these new towns such a degree of social housing was still as strongly resisted as possible in upmarket suburbs and most of the existing exurbs well-connected to London in the new Green Belt which almost unwaveringly elected majority-Conservative councils. Such private housing-dominant bastions of the Green Belt being Edgware, Amersham, Staines upon Thames, Surbiton, Sevenoaks and Epping.
In the 1938–1950s period, earmarking of the Green Belt intra-London infill areas continued to be earmarked for housing and those to "round off" the shape of London as official policy. A direct consequence was that when London was redrawn (namely from the 1889 County of London to Greater London) its area in 1965 was made five times greater. [8] This selective and encouraged urbanisation, coupled with the New Towns, ensured authorities did not need to expect a shortage of housing and were centrally lobbied (and in some cases also locally lobbied) to designate land as Green Belt in order to offset congestion and pollution consequent upon their policies of growth.
As the outward growth of London was seen to be firmly repressed, residents owning properties further from the built-up area also campaigned for this policy of urban restraint, partly to safeguard their own investments but often invoking the paradigm English thinking running from John Ruskin to at least John Betjeman, a scenic/rustic argument which lays the blame for most social ills upon urban influences and which leads few retired people to live in London. In mid-1971, mindful of the new towns in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, the government decided to extend the Metropolitan Green Belt northwards to include almost all of Hertfordshire. The Metropolitan Green Belt now covers parts of 68 different Districts or Boroughs.
London's green belt was extended after 1955, in places to a distance of 35 miles out. The belt is subject to minor annual variations, and covers an area approximately three times the size of London.
Extension has taken place to take in large parts of the Surrey Hills, Chiltern Hills and three of the areas known as various Wealds including Epping Forest, as such extension pre-dates certain largely duplicative protections which cover those areas, particularly Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Redesignation includes for transport or civil engineering infrastructure, housing and non-agricultural industry, retail and non-green or blue buffer leisure. In general agriculture and open-air leisure uses, including golf courses, and fresh water reservoirs (often used for sailing), can be designated green belt land.
All Local Authorities have the option of limited green belt land release in their Local Plans, according to legally necessary "exceptional circumstances" envisioned by the 1955 Act. [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]
The London Society heightened debate about the city's green belt, in 2014 in its report entitled "Green Sprawl". [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] Other organisations, including the Planning Officers Society, [19] echoed with specific calls for a UK Governmental review and proposals to balance land release for with concepts to compensate habitat loss and mitigate pollution, restitutionally (as if never converted). [20] [21] [22]
The Adam Smith Institute wrote a paper under its core ethos of economic liberalism challenging the goals of nature and environmental protection groups who advocate greater urban density. The paper highlighted the Metropolitan Green Belt had land to build a million typical closer London fringe (low-to-medium) density homes within ten minutes walk (800m) of existing train stations, specifically circa 20,000 hectares (77 sq mi). It critiqued 10,000 hectares (39 sq mi) of golf course land. [23] [24]
The Royal Town Planning Institute commissioned the Building In The Green Belt? [25] report to look into the commuting patterns in London's metropolitan green belt, to test the claims made in the Adam Smith report. Their study found only 7.4% of commuters, who lived near a railway station actually travelled to London by train on a regular basis with the vast majority (72%) travelling by private vehicle to jobs in their hometown and to other places not within London. Thus the proposal put forward in the Adam Smith report could result in 3.96 to 7.45 million additional car journeys per week on already congested roads around London. CPRE say it is a myth to connect green belts to rising house prices, since there is no clear difference in house prices between cities with green belts and cities without them, and both land and house prices are inflated by other factors such as investment.
A survey in 2016, by Ipsos Mori, found that many Londoners, particularly those who live in the most affected areas, think the trend towards ever taller, bolder skyscrapers has gone too far. More than 400 buildings of more than 20 floors in 2016 were tentatively proposed by developers in London. [26] Among respondents, six out of ten backed a limit on the height of new skyscrapers, with the same proportion backing restrictions on the number of buildings with more than 50 floors. [26]
The table lists the areas designated as the Metropolitan Green Belt in 2014. Between 2009 and 2014 there was a reduction of 435 hectares (1,070 acres; 1.68 sq mi). By 2014 the only Inner London Borough to have had Green Belt, Greenwich, had lost its few acres of green belt designation. [27]
Every borough or equivalent district of the reduced counties of Surrey and Hertfordshire has Green Belt as does Bedfordshire, a county which has never contributed to present definition of London and has just 3 local government units. Four of five districts in Buckinghamshire, 4 of 6 in Berkshire, 9 of 14 in Essex, 7 of 13 in Kent, 18 of the 32 London boroughs, and 1 of the 13 Sussex districts/boroughs/unitary authorities has Green Belt.
| District (planning authority) | Region of England | Ceremonial county | Area | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hectares | Acres | Sq miles | |||
| Aylesbury Vale | South East | Buckinghamshire | 4,800 | 11,900 | 18.5 |
| Barking and Dagenham | London | Greater London | 530 | 1,310 | 2.05 |
| Barnet | London | Greater London | 2,380 | 5,880 | 9.19 |
| Basildon | East | Essex | 6,950 | 17,200 | 26.8 |
| Bexley | London | Greater London | 1,120 | 2,770 | 4.32 |
| Bracknell Forest | South East | Berkshire | 3,840 | 9,490 | 14.8 |
| Brentwood | East | Essex | 13,700 | 33,900 | 52.9 |
| Bromley | London | Greater London | 7,730 | 19,100 | 29.8 |
| Broxbourne | East | Hertfordshire | 3,310 | 8,180 | 12.8 |
| Castle Point | East | Essex | 2,750 | 6,800 | 10.6 |
| Central Bedfordshire | East | Bedfordshire | 28,220 | 69,730 | 109.0 |
| Chelmsford | East | Essex | 12,850 | 31,800 | 49.6 |
| Chiltern | South East | Buckinghamshire | 17,380 | 42,900 | 67.1 |
| Croydon | London | Greater London | 2,310 | 5,710 | 8.92 |
| Dacorum | East | Hertfordshire | 10,690 | 26,400 | 41.3 |
| Dartford | South East | Kent | 4,110 | 10,200 | 15.9 |
| Ealing | London | Greater London | 310 | 766 | 1.20 |
| East Hertfordshire | East | Hertfordshire | 17,530 | 43,300 | 67.7 |
| Elmbridge | South East | Surrey | 5,620 | 13,900 | 21.7 |
| Enfield | London | Greater London | 3,060 | 7,560 | 11.8 |
| Epping Forest | East | Essex | 31,680 | 78,280 | 122.3 |
| Epsom and Ewell | South East | Surrey | 1,560 | 3,850 | 6.02 |
| Gravesham | South East | Kent | 7,670 | 19,000 | 29.6 |
| Guildford | South East | Surrey | 24,040 | 59,400 | 92.8 |
| Haringey | London | Greater London | 60 | 150 | 0.23 |
| Harlow | East | Essex | 640 | 1,580 | 2.47 |
| Harrow | London | Greater London | 1,090 | 2,690 | 4.21 |
| Havering | London | Greater London | 6,010 | 14,900 | 23.2 |
| Hertsmere | East | Hertfordshire | 8,040 | 19,900 | 31.0 |
| Hillingdon | London | Greater London | 4,970 | 12,300 | 19.2 |
| Hounslow | London | Greater London | 1,230 | 3,040 | 4.75 |
| Kingston upon Thames | London | Greater London | 640 | 1,580 | 2.47 |
| Luton | East | Bedfordshire | 140 | 350 | 0.54 |
| Maidstone | South East | Kent | 530 | 1,310 | 2.05 |
| Medway | South East | Kent | 1,340 | 3,310 | 5.17 |
| Mid Sussex | South East | West Sussex | 20 | 50 | 0.08 |
| Mole Valley | South East | Surrey | 19,640 | 48,500 | 75.8 |
| Newham | London | Greater London | 80 | 200 | 0.31 |
| North Hertfordshire | East | Hertfordshire | 14,250 | 35,200 | 55.0 |
| Redbridge | London | Greater London | 2,070 | 5,120 | 7.99 |
| Reigate and Banstead | South East | Surrey | 8,890 | 22,000 | 34.3 |
| Richmond upon Thames | London | Greater London | 140 | 350 | 0.54 |
| Rochford | East | Essex | 12,570 | 31,100 | 48.5 |
| Runnymede | South East | Surrey | 6,140 | 15,200 | 23.7 |
| Sevenoaks | South East | Kent | 34,400 | 85,000 | 132.8 |
| Slough | South East | Berkshire | 860 | 2,130 | 3.32 |
| South Bucks | South East | Buckinghamshire | 12,350 | 30,500 | 47.7 |
| Southend-on-Sea | East | Essex | 610 | 1,510 | 2.36 |
| Spelthorne | South East | Surrey | 3,320 | 8,200 | 12.8 |
| St Albans | East | Hertfordshire | 13,140 | 32,500 | 50.7 |
| Stevenage | East | Hertfordshire | 260 | 642 | 1.00 |
| Surrey Heath | South East | Surrey | 4,190 | 10,400 | 16.2 |
| Sutton | London | Greater London | 620 | 1,530 | 2.39 |
| Tandridge | South East | Surrey | 23,300 | 57,600 | 90.0 |
| Three Rivers | East | Hertfordshire | 6,840 | 16,900 | 26.4 |
| Thurrock | East | Essex | 11,920 | 29,500 | 46.0 |
| Tonbridge and Malling | South East | Kent | 17,060 | 42,200 | 65.9 |
| Tunbridge Wells | South East | Kent | 7,130 | 17,600 | 27.5 |
| Uttlesford | East | Essex | 3,810 | 9,410 | 14.7 |
| Waltham Forest | London | Greater London | 840 | 2,080 | 3.24 |
| Watford | East | Hertfordshire | 410 | 1,010 | 1.58 |
| Waverley | South East | Surrey | 21,080 | 52,100 | 81.4 |
| Welwyn Hatfield | East | Hertfordshire | 10,250 | 25,300 | 39.6 |
| Windsor and Maidenhead | South East | Berkshire | 16,480 | 40,700 | 63.6 |
| Woking | South East | Surrey | 4,030 | 9,960 | 15.6 |
| Wokingham | South East | Berkshire | 2,900 | 7,170 | 11.2 |
| Wycombe | South East | Buckinghamshire | 15,630 | 38,600 | 60.3 |
| TOTAL | 514,060 | 1,270,300 | 1,984.8 | ||
The Greater London Authority (GLA), colloquially known by the metonym City Hall, is the devolved regional governance body of Greater London, England. It consists of two political branches: an executive Mayor and the 25-member London Assembly, which serves as a means of checks and balances on the Mayor. Since May 2016, both branches have been under the control of the London Labour Party. The authority was established in 2000, following a local referendum, and derives most of its powers from the Greater London Authority Act 1999 and the Greater London Authority Act 2007.
An urban growth boundary, or UGB, is a regional boundary, set in an attempt to control urban sprawl by, in its simplest form, mandating that the area inside the boundary be used for urban development and the area outside be preserved in its natural state or used for agriculture. Legislating for an "urban growth boundary" is one way, among many others, of managing the major challenges posed by unplanned urban growth and the encroachment of cities upon agricultural and rural land.
The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 1986 by the Local Government Act 1985 and its powers were devolved to the London boroughs and other entities. A new administrative body, known as the Greater London Authority (GLA), was established in 2000.
In British town planning, the green belt is a policy for controlling urban growth. The term, coined by Octavia Hill in 1875, refers to a ring of countryside where urbanisation will be resisted for the foreseeable future, maintaining an area where local food growing, forestry and outdoor leisure can be expected to prevail. The fundamental aim of green belt policy is to prevent urban sprawl by keeping land permanently green, and consequently the most important attribute of green belts is their openness.
The London Borough of Barnet is a local authority area on the northern outskirts of London. The borough was formed in 1965 from parts of the ceremonial counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. It is the second largest London borough by population with 389,344 inhabitants as of 2021, also making it the 17th largest district in England. The borough covers an area of 86.74 square kilometres (33 sq mi), the fourth highest of the 32 London boroughs, and has a population density of 45.8 people per hectare, which ranks it 25th.
The London Borough of Havering in East London, England, forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 259,552 inhabitants; the principal town is Romford, while other communities are Hornchurch, Upminster, Collier Row and Rainham. The borough is mainly suburban, with large areas of protected open space. Romford is a major retail and night time entertainment centre, and to the south the borough extends into the London Riverside redevelopment area of the Thames Gateway. The name Havering is a reference to the Royal Liberty of Havering which occupied the area for several centuries. The local authority is Havering London Borough Council. It is the easternmost London borough.
Welwyn Garden City is a town in Hertfordshire, England, 20 miles (32 km) north of London. It was the second garden city in England and one of the first new towns. It is unique in being both a garden city and a new town and exemplifies the physical, social and cultural planning ideals of the periods in which it was built.
The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government Act 1888. The Act created an administrative County of London, which included within its territory the City of London. However, the City of London and the County of London formed separate ceremonial counties for "non-administrative" purposes. The local authority for the county was the London County Council (LCC), which initially performed only a limited range of functions, but gained further powers during its 76-year existence. The LCC provided very few services within the City of London, where the ancient Corporation monopolised local governance. In 1900, the lower-tier civil parishes and district boards were replaced with 28 new metropolitan boroughs. The territory of the county was 74,903 acres (303.12 km2) in 1961. During its existence, there was a long-term decline in population as more residents moved into the outer suburbs; there were periodic reviews of the local government structures in the greater London area and several failed attempts to expand the boundaries of the county. In 1965, the London Government Act 1963 replaced the county with the much larger Greater London administrative area.
The Borough of Broxbourne is a local government district with borough status in Hertfordshire, England. Its council is based in Cheshunt. Other settlements in the borough include Broxbourne, Hoddesdon and Waltham Cross. The eastern boundary of the district is the River Lea. The borough covers 20 square miles (52 km2) in south east Hertfordshire, and had an estimated population of 99,000 in 2021.
Spelthorne is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Staines-upon-Thames; other settlements in the area include Ashford, Sunbury-on-Thames, Shepperton, Stanwell and Laleham. It is named after the medieval Spelthorne Hundred which had covered the area.
The new towns in the United Kingdom were planned under the powers of the New Towns Act 1946 and later acts to relocate populations in poor or bombed-out housing following the Second World War. They were developed in three waves. Later developments included the expanded towns: existing towns which were substantially expanded to accommodate what was called the "overspill" population from densely populated areas of deprivation.
Three Rivers is a local government district in south-west Hertfordshire, England. Its council is based in Rickmansworth. The district borders Hertsmere, Watford, St Albans, Dacorum, Buckinghamshire, and the London boroughs of Hillingdon and Harrow.
Enfield Chase is an area of Enfield that is named for a former royal hunting ground. It comprises the majority of the open countryside within the London Borough of Enfield, and land north of the M25 within Hertfordshire. At the time of a survey by Francis Russell in 1776-7, the Chase extended from Monken Hadley in the west to Bulls Cross in the east, and from Potters Bar to Southgate.
Elstree and Borehamwood is a civil parish in the Hertsmere district, in Hertfordshire, England. Located approximately 12 miles (19 km) northwest of central London and adjacent to the Greater London boundary, it is an urbanised parish with suburban residential development, some open land and light industry. Elstree and Borehamwood is a recent renaming of the ancient parish of Elstree, covering the settlements of Elstree and Borehamwood. Formed in 1894 as the Elstree Parish Council, the local council is Elstree and Borehamwood Town Council. One of the most populous civil parishes in England, at the 2021 census it had a population of 41,423.
The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Greater London area in the United Kingdom that is written by the Mayor of London and published by the Greater London Authority. It is updated from time to time.
The London Government Act 1963 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which created Greater London and a new local government structure within it. The Act significantly reduced the number of local government districts in the area, resulting in local authorities responsible for larger areas and populations. The upper tier of local government was reformed to cover the whole of the Greater London area and with a more strategic role; and the split of functions between upper and lower tiers was recast. The Act classified the boroughs into inner and outer London groups. The City of London and its corporation were essentially unreformed by the legislation. Subsequent amendments to the Act have significantly amended the upper tier arrangements, with the Greater London Council abolished in 1986, and the Greater London Authority introduced in 2000. As of 2016, the London boroughs are more or less identical to those created in 1965, although with some enhanced powers over services such as waste management and education.
Northaw and Cuffley is a civil parish in the Welwyn Hatfield borough of Hertfordshire, England. Located approximately 13.5 miles (21.7 km) north of central London and adjacent to the Greater London boundary, it is a partly urbanised parish with large sections of open land. Northaw and Cuffley is a recent renaming of the ancient parish of Northaw, covering the settlements of Northaw and Cuffley. The local council is Northaw and Cuffley Parish Council.
Barnet London Borough Council, also known as Barnet Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Barnet in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour majority control since 2022. The council meets at Hendon Town Hall and has its main offices at 2 Bristol Avenue in Colindale.
Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council, which styles itself Hammersmith and Fulham Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour majority control since 2014. The council's usual meeting place is at Hammersmith Town Hall.
Greater London is the administrative area of London, England, which is coterminous with the London region. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a ceremonial county also called Greater London, and the City of London. The Greater London Authority is responsible for strategic local government across the region, and regular local government is the responsibility of the borough councils and the City of London Corporation. Greater London is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Hertfordshire to the north, Essex to the north-east, Kent to the south-east, Surrey to the south, and Berkshire and Buckinghamshire to the west.
