Further written evidence submitted by Shortwood Greenbelt Campaign [NPP 312]
The NPPF Urban Myth of Green Belt Preservation: A Case Study from Bristol
The 2007 draft South West Regional Spatial Strategy envisaged that almost 40% of the 84,500 new dwellings planned for the Greater Bristol area were to be built on the Avon Green Belt! There were 35,000 individual written objections to the draft SW RSS. The Secretary of State’s amendments were never put before the necessary public inquiry, nor were they ever ratified by parliament, but even today these untested figures & controversial, unsustainable “Urban Extensions” remain the bedrock of strategies being imposed by Planning Inspectors, against Planning Authority and local community wishes.
When, under the NPPF, South Gloucestershire Council proposed 21,500 dwellings in their draft Core Strategy, Inspector Paul Cryssell responded “Most participants have continued to regard 33,000 as a minimum target, very close to the number promoted in the Secretary of State’s proposed changes (32,000.)” [Core Strategy Public Inquiry 15th November 2013]
The “Urban Myth” of Green Belt preservation exists because Planning Authorities are forced by the Planning Inspectorate to regularly review their Green Belt provision and re-designate some areas for development. This land is then removed from the Green Belt, released for development and replaced with fresh land on the outer edge. But it was still Green Belt land when the decision was made that it should be developed. So much then for NPPF statements regarding “permanence”! Constant ministerial assertions that the nation’s precious Green Belts are safe from development are simply naive & untrue.
Contrary to current NPPF regulations, the national network of Green Belts surrounding strategic urban areas, comprising only 1.6 million hectares or 12% of England’s land mass, are deemed to be merely local authority land banks, reserved for development, managed by the Local Planning Authority and available for release to speculators whenever appropriate.