Green Belt: Compact City

Join CPRE London’s fight to save the Green Belt and stop urban sprawl.

Building into Green Belt is the worst possible option for London. We lose our countryside and create a high-carbon, car-dependent, unhealthy city. London’s Green Belt is currently facing more threats than ever from boroughs which look to remove green belt protection instead of developing plentiful brownfield sites.

Urban sprawl is low-density development, outside city boundaries, unable to support local buses, jobs, shops and services. It relies on cars and increases energy use, pollution and traffic congestion. It raises transport costs and social isolation, and leads to loss of countryside, destruction of agricultural land and wildlife habitat.

• Why we care about Transport and density March 2024

Low carbon cities

In line with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommendations, we call for ‘compact, efficient cities’ with strong Green Belt protection. Public transport, walking and cycling have priority, and people can live close to jobs and amenities. Parks and green spaces are protected for health, recreation, sport and nature. It’s possible to create compact cities by using land efficiently, recycling sites in need of regeneration, using space better, and moving away from car-use. Reliance on cars is space-inefficient, and generates air pollution and noise.

What are we doing to make sure London develops as a compact city with strong Green Belt protection?

1. We campaign to save London’s Green Belt, working with local campaigners. Currently Hounslow and Enfield councils are looking at removing Green Belt designation from large areas of London’s countryside to make way for development, despite plentiful brownfield land. We also demonstrate why London’s Green Belt is Our Climate Safety Belt. Beyond London’s borders we work with the London Green Belt Council and other CPRE branches to save green fields from development.
2. We support Compact Cities, showing why “To save the countryside we have to save our cities”. We point to the social and environmental down-sides of sprawling low-density development. We support gentle density increases, in keeping with the character of the wider area, and do not believe high rise living is the answer.  For more on our approach to making better use of wasted space and enabling people to move away from car dependency please see Double the Density, Halve the Land Needed and 10 reasons higher density living is good for communities.
3. Our Space to Build work shows we don’t need to build on Green Belt. There is plenty of brownfield land in London for development. We point out where there is space to build.
4. Through our Healthy Streets programme we promote sustainable transport which is the key to building a compact city. We have coordinated London’s Healthy Streets Scorecard coalition since 2019. We have also shown why building car-dependent development in London’s Green Belt will mean we end up Driving in Circles with 5 million extra car journeys per week.

Three CPRE London reports with hard hitting messages on protecting London’s parks and green spaces

1. The first in the series addresses the myth building on Green Belt can solve the housing crisis. Think building on Green Belt will solve London’s housing crisis? Think again…
2. The second shows that the idea that parts of the Green Belt are ‘grey belt’ is false and shows why we need to build on the real grey belt. The real ‘grey belt’ – finding space to build in London and beyond
3. The third addresses the ‘golf belt’ myth and shows how London’s remaining playing fields are being bought by developers and taken out of use, in search of profit Protecting space for sports

What can you do?

Whatever the reason a site is coming under threat, the solution invariably lies in communities being engaged with a site, ensuring it is well used and valued and campaigning to save it when possible threats emerge. This story tends to play out continually over time: many of the parks we have today only exist as a result of historic, hard-fought campaigns.

One thing is clear: communities will always need to be vigilant. We recognise this and so support the London Friends of Green Spaces Network, the movement to create and grow park friends groups, who are able to champion their local park, ensure it is a well-used and loved local asset, and if necessary spring into action if a threat arises. There are currently around 700 friends groups in London but, with more than 4,000 green spaces, many more are needed.

• Ask your councillors to support our pledges
• Identify neglected green sites in your area, tell us about them and perhaps set up a local group to create a new or better local park or green space there. There is lots of advice available from Parks Community or get in touch with us office@cprelondon.org.uk.
• Join your local park friends group – you can find their details at GoParksLondon.

CPRE London’s commitment to London’s parks and green spaces
✓ We support local groups, helping them save vital parks; and supporting them to create new parks from neglected and derelict green spaces.
✓ We identify the reasons spaces are coming under threat and work to tackle the causes.
✓ We champion parks, green spaces, Metropolitan Open Land and Green Belt, showing why they are so important.
✓ We publicise threats and advocate for political commitment, new policies and legislation to tackle them.