Green belt lost to 45,000 homes

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Labour took office in 1997, 45,000 homes had been erected on once-protected land - creating the equivalent of a town the size of Bath.

The report by the Campaign for Rural England said the green belt had been "seriously eroded".
Planning minister Iain Wright said: "This analysis is flawed and one sided."

Paul Miner, senior planning campaigner for the CPRE, said he believed ministers wanted to protect the green belt but it was being seriously eroded.

"Too much development has already been permitted and some Government inspectors appear to be interpreting green belt policy in their own way.

"This is making a mockery of the permanence which green belts are supposed to have.

"Now we are faced with a serious downturn in the housing market. There is a real danger that Government will panic and relax green belt protection in a rush for development at any price," he said.

Planning Minister Iain Wright said: "The suggestion that the amount of green belt is falling overall is deeply misleading.

"What the CPRE fail to tell you is that since 1997 the overall amount of green belt has grown by 82,000 acres (33,000 hectares)."

But the Government came under fire from shadow local government secretary, Eric Pickles, who said Prime Minister Gordon Brown's promise he would protect the green belt was "utterly worthless".

"Government inspectors are letting rip with the concrete mixer and adding to the unsustainable urban sprawl by bulldozing the green belt.

"Labour's policies are only going to deliver sprawling housing estates, without proper infrastructure, much of it on flood plains," Mr Pickles said.