A NEW report published today by the London Green Belt Council and CPRE Hertfordshire, reveals the scale of damage being done to the countryside around London by the government’s ‘grey belt’ policy.

The report exposes a falsehood at the heart of one of the government’s flagship policies. In its 2024 election manifesto, Labour said it was ‘committed to preserving the Green Belt’, pledging not to change its ‘purpose or general extent’ says CPRE Herts.

A spokesperson said: “Despite assurances that development on ‘grey belt’ sites in the Green Belt would be confined to the likes of disused car parks and derelict petrol stations, the report shows that no part of the protected Green Belt landscape is safe from development.

Last year 89% of the 35 applications to build on Green Belt land in Hertfordshire were on sites developers claimed were ‘grey belt’. Over 80% of planning appeals in the London Green Belt between February and December 2024 were permitted on ‘grey belt’ grounds – more than twice the proportion that would normally have been granted on any basis.

Commenting on the situation, a KC has said that it is ‘virtually impossible’ to contest such applications, after what is ‘a seismic reversal’ of policy applying to ‘hundreds and hundreds of sites across the country’.

Developers are racing to exploit this opportunity.

However, as the new report reveals, the definition of ‘grey belt’ is so broad that it allows for development in the Green Belt with little or no restriction.

Councils are being forced to reclassify formerly protected land as ‘grey belt’. The report finds that most of the Green Belt opened to development in this way is good quality countryside and agricultural land. The report gives concrete examples of where this has happened.

The report concludes that the government sees the Green Belt as having little economic value unless developed and warns that if this policy is not challenged, no part of the Green Belt will be safe from development.

The report shows that this sacrifice of Green Belt is unnecessary since there are over 1.4 million homes already with planning permission since 2017 which have yet to be built. In addition, since a similar number could be accommodated on previously developed brownfield land.

“A recent poll by More in Common, commissioned by CPRE, shows a strong public appetite for building on brownfield sites, with an overwhelming 86% of people considering Green Belt protections important”.