Green Belt

The original concept of Green Belts was intended to prevent urban sprawl.

With the advent of the car, developers were extending towns and cities through ribbon development following the new roads that were being built. And for nearly eighty years the intention generally to protect the countryside worked. Never before has the Green belts of England and that within Warwickshire been under such threat.

The converse of Greenfield is Brownfield – land that has previously been built on. CPRE have strived for such land to be used first for development. See our report below which details that there is such land available for thousands of homes, which would mean the saving of Greenfield or even Greenbelt land from being lost. A ‘Brownfield first’ policy in any planning policy is crucial!

Help Save Coventry’s Green Belt

The threat to Coventry’s green belt is intense. Eastern Green is looking to have 2500 houses built on it, completely unnecessarily we believe. The proposal is for the wrong houses, in the wrong place, will lead to worsening air pollution in and around the City and worse of all these houses are simply not needed. The City Council’s population figures on which they base their housing numbers are just wrong!

We have campaigned with Keep our GreenBelt Green (KOGG) for a change of heart by the Council, but it looks as though we will see them in court and a judge will decide.

We are waiting to hear from the developers, who wish to submit arguments on the subject of joining our case to a similar one with the same housing mix issue. The case papers will go to a planning judge, who will decide whether or not to grant us “leave” (or permission) to go to a full hearing of the case. It is a preliminary stage, about whether or not the case is “arguable”, in the lawyer’s language – in short, is the legal reasoning and the evidence plausible enough, after cursory examination, to take the matter to full consideration.

We are cautiously optimistic about getting leave – we think a judge is likely to take the intervention of the Secretary of State, as a sign that there is an important legal matter in play, which needs resolution by a court. We may find out in October, about getting leave. If we do get permission to proceed, a full decision would be likely in February next year.

See our latest leaflet here Save-the-Green-Belt-flyer

And the Secretary of State’s submission here Secretary-of-State-submission-on-housing