Green Belt map of England

York’s Liberal Democrat Council Group Leader says a new national campaign to protect the countryside supports the approach his party has taken to controversial housing plans.

Last week the Lib Dems submitted their objection to Labour run City of York Council’s Draft Local Plan, which proposes building 16,000 houses on Green Belt land over the next 15 years. In recent months the Lib Dems have been leading the fight to protect York’s Green Belt, including organising a petition signed by nearly 2,500 local residents. The party has said that new housing should be focused on brownfield sites before the countryside surrounding York is developed.

Now a national ‘Save our Countryside’ charter launched by the CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England) has highlighted the threat of developing Green Belt land and called on councils to develop brownfield sites first. The CPRE has said that current policies mean the countryside is “being destroyed unnecessarily” and a ‘brownfield first’ approach should be adopted.

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