Greening the Green Belt @ Costing the Earth on Radio 4

Recently, the Adam Smith Institute criticized how the 'green belt' actually strangles a sensible housing policy - although some would argue that Adam Smith himself would have criticized the 'land monopolists' that make up the large house-builders:
Futures Forum: Adam Smith and rationing housing supply

Similarly, the notion of the 'green belt' being a 'noose' around towns and cities is not just a critique from the 'neo-liberal' spectrum:
Futures Forum: Building on the green belt: the case for

Many of these arguments were considered in yesterday's 'Costing the Earth':

Greening the Green Belt

Costing the Earth
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The UK's housing crisis is acute. We need to build but where? 

Many critics point to the ample green space which surrounds some of our most overcrowded cities and towns. The green belt celebrates 60 years since it became part of National Policy but its history stretches back far further. The idea of a stretch of land which separates the urban from the rural has been commended as the defining planning policy of the nation. This legislation is at the core of our notion of what it is to live in a 'green and pleasant land'. 

But is it fit for purpose in the 21st Century? Many critics feel that it is now time to reassess the lines upon which these boundaries were drawn and make a strategic plan for how we want people to live and commute in the near future. The green belt protects many environmental assets closest to our cities but Tom Heap asks whether we are making the most of this vital natural asset.

Related Links
'The Green Noose' report for the Adam Smith Institute (www.adamsmith.org)
London Green Belt Council(www.londongreenbeltcouncil.org.uk)
CPRE  (www.cpre.org.uk)
Natural Capital Committee Report (www.naturalcapitalcommittee.org)

BBC Radio 4 - Costing the Earth, Greening the Green Belt
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