GREEN BELTS – A DISTRACTION? Tim Marshall Department of Planning Oxford Brookes University

Content Contexts – societal, national and local Broad directions for change What to do

Contexts - societal Lack of commonly agreed values – the public interest, for places or generally. A politics which cannot aggregate social interests in a democratic way. A structure of interests and actors which generates profound conflict – land owners, developers, residents inside and outside the Green Belt – material interests which are deeply entrenched.

Contexts – national No wider national or strategic context – absent data, analysis, debate. “National rebalancing” remains a fig leaf phrase, no one knows its implications. Existing cities and new urban areas – no grasp of the proper play between these. Recent reports emphasise the centrality of urban policy (Vital Cities, Growing Cities). Also core role of retrofit transitions for existing urban areas. Weakened planning system – extremely hard to use the remaining scraps of the planning system to resolve any core social, environmental and economic issues: applies powerfully to the Green Belt question.

Contexts - local In every locality, the pressures play differently. Above all, these are politically expressed, both in party politics (still quite central) and in pressure politics (local lobbying links powerfully to national dimensions in England). Every Green Belt is in a different context therefore, which cannot be overridden by some general resolution. Applies to land ownership, option structures, transport connectivity (dictate housing and job markets), and so different sorts of money to be made and lost. Matters just as much in non Green Belt counties – applies in Suffolk, Cornwall, Lincolnshire etc.

No Green Belt answer outside general policy answers Whether changing a Green Belt will help society depends on land, housing, transport, food and other policy spheres (see Dieter Helm arguments on the countryside). Just changing Green Belt policy on its own will simply accelerate the current policy mess – not restructuring urban regions to make them more sustainable, or to facilitate affordable housing. The keys to change are first elsewhere, in those other policy areas. Adjust those and then can get urban regions / counties to consider their localities in the round, having given them the right tools.

Widen the palette Green Belt (and much other non urban land) can be enhanced for many purposes, not just for farming or for building on. Different social interests can be helped – not mainly a playground for the affluent minorities. Access questions need to come on the agenda – country parks, for example. Consider all the options in the 10 or more miles round the main English urban areas – restructuring transport and many land uses.

Two steps towards resolving the locality challenges – 1 at national level Build on the work of the 2010 Land Use Futures Foresight report to work out the future land options in England – a National Commission could do this. The academic capacity exists, see the superb work on national infrastructure systems. Consider population, transport, housing, food, energy, together. This will show the real options nationally, to be considered in a grand national debate, and then the setting of some politically difficult strategic directions by government.

Two steps towards resolving the locality challenges – 2 at locality level All the city regions / counties need to consider their land options – applies just as much to areas without Green Belts as with them. AONB policies need examining too. This means rebuilding binding strategic planning, otherwise people will not believe the logics being proposed, often changing land protection boundaries. Example – West Midlands Green Belt to support urban regeneration policies. This may be just as relevant as the early 2000s regional strategy decided – but this needs full re-examination.

Conclusion So yes, government needs to act, urgently, but not on Green Belts as such, but on the overall question of how we live and plan forward our living in each locality. Just changing Green Belts on their own is a recipe for an even bigger mess than we are now in.