Grey belt policy causing havoc to protected countryside – write to your MP

The Green Belt has been protected by successive Governments of all political parties since its inception. Yet this Government seems determined to destroy the Green Belt whilst publicly stating the opposite.

We are asking all of our supporters to write to your MP to request their support in urging the Government to amend the definition of so-called ‘grey belt’. Without this change, virtually all of the Green Belt is at risk.

Template for writing to your MP

Here is a template letter that should be customised and personalised before sending to your MP. (Template below and also downloadable here.)

Dear < name of your MP >,

Call for Parliamentary Debate: the Government must amend its definition of ‘grey belt’.

I’m deeply concerned about the Government’s new (since December 2024) planning policy with regard to so-called ‘grey belt’. This is causing havoc to what should be protected countryside. The definition of ‘grey belt’ in the national planning policy framework is so expansive that virtually all of the Green Belt – which I value very highly – is now at risk.

I’d like your support in urging the Government to amend its definition of ‘grey belt’, so that the definition is limited to land such as derelict petrol stations, disused car parks and abandoned garages that Government Ministers repeatedly cite as being ‘the grey belt’.

It is clear that what’s actually happening has nothing whatsoever to do with derelict petrol stations, disused car parks and abandoned garages. Instead, developers are targeting speculative planning applications on many pristine, beautiful undeveloped sites within the designated Green Belt which would previously have been protected.

CPRE Hertfordshire, the countryside charity, reports that over 1000 hectares of greenfield sites in the Green Belt in Hertfordshire are now proposed for commercial and residential development through speculative planning applications, arguing that the site is ‘grey belt’. Some of these planning applications have recently been approved including two huge data centres, a mega solar farm and a large speculative housing estate, all to be built on prime agricultural land with many existing public rights of way that local residents value for their recreation and access to nature. There is nothing ‘grey’ about these sites and none of them are previously developed land or derelict, disused, abandoned or in any other way of poor quality.

To make matters worse, these speculative applications are unnecessary: CPRE reports that there is enough identified brownfield land in England for 1.41 million new homes, of which 770,000 already have planning permission but have not been built.

I am concerned and angry about the loss of countryside within the Green Belt. The Green Belt has been protected by successive Governments of all political parties since its inception. Yet this Government seems determined to destroy the Green Belt whilst publicly stating the opposite.

CPRE Hertfordshire is spearheading a national campaign to amend the current Government’s definition of ‘grey belt’ and restore the pre-existing Green Belt protections in national policy. More than 42,000 people across the UK agree with this and recently signed CPRE Hertfordshire’s petition. Now, the campaign is calling for a Parliamentary debate on ‘grey belt’ to expose more widely the damage this is causing to high quality farmland, beautiful landscapes, and all manner of green spaces.

Please can I ask you to support this campaign by initiating a Parliamentary debate? Please use your influence to get the message across to Ministers that the ‘grey belt’ definition is so fatally flawed that it has effectively abolished Green Belt policy and vast areas of previously protected countryside are now under threat.

Sincerely,

<  your name & address  >