Britain should scrap its green belt
It has a stranglehold over the economy and protects the wrong bits of land
FOOD RATIONING is over. People can swear on the BBC. Homosexuality is legal. Thank goodness Britain has left behind the dreary restrictions of the 1950s. Yet the green belt—16 rings around English cities dreamed up 70 years ago—not only persists but is growing. The belt doubled in size in the 1980s. Last year it grew by another 24,000 hectares, or 1.5%. The green belt was never meant to swallow up so much land, yet today makes up 12.6% of England. Another quarter is protected by national parks or other designations.
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This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Loosen up”
From the August 19th 2023 edition
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