Green Belt Pickle - a recipe for disaster

How do you make Green Belt Pickle? Well, you start by take a big pile of fresh NPPF that you then ferment in political instability (I use jittery Tory back-benchers with small majorities) and you add a good dollop of political change (at it’s best on the first Thursday in May at Council election time) and you cook the lot together for a long time…. Et voila! Green Belt Pickle!

But on a more serious note, the new NPPF speaks with a forked tongue. It still requires development to happen and the Government is saying that it is sticking to the 300k new homes a year but… (and I quote):

“Once established, there is no requirement for green belt boundaries to be reviewed or changed when plans are being prepared or updated.” It also says: “Authorities may choose to review and alter Green Belt boundaries where exceptional circumstances are fully evidenced and justified, in which case proposals for changes should be made only through the plan-making process.”

Now, If I am a councillor and my officers bring me a Local Plan with proposed changes to the Green Belt, I would turn around a say to them “No, I am not doing that because the NPPF says I don’t have to, and it is unpopular with my voters”. The officer would then say, “but councillor, you don’t have a 4/5 year housing land supply and without the release you won’t get the numbers to make your plan sound and get through an inspection.”

You see the dilemma I am facing?

So, what to do, what to do? Well, Matthew Pennycook, the shadow Housing Minister says that Labour would reverse the changes to the NPPF (we are eagerly awaiting the Labour manifesto on 8 Feb). Now I think we all know the “winds of change” are blowing over our sceptred isle, this precious green land set is a silver sea… so at best, the new NPPF will have a few months to inflict its damage.

Now, we have a choice, we either wait for a new-new NPPF that reverse this nonsense or we crack on with it. It a site on a green belt release was an allocation in a draft before, logic dictates that it will be one again when “normality” is restored. That is certainly the advice I would give at this stage. We don’t know when the next General Election will be, but it will usher in some much-needed changes. So, let’s get on with it. We all know houses must be built to address the housing crisis and we know a future Labour Government is pro housing development, so let’s get on with it!

In the meantime, a number of Council leaders have said that their Councils are facing bankruptcy because of growing bills required to meet their statutory obligations for accommodation for their residents, which is becoming cripplingly expensive. We need to stop being overly sentimental about “Green Belt” and start focussing on the human needs.

Until next week,

Henry