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Boris rejects bid to build housing on Green Belt
Katharine Barney, City Hall Reporter09.04.09
BORIS JOHNSON today dismissed plans to build on London's Green Belt despite proposals from an independent think tank.
The idea to ease the capital's housing shortage will be studied in a BBC documentary called England's Green and Pleasant Land which will be shown on Easter Monday.
Proposed by the independent Adam Smith Institute, the idea is that woodlands are created alongside housing developments.
But a spokesman for the Mayor said the London Plan banned the practice and that the Mayor was instead concentrating on freeing up land owned by the London Development Agency.
Mr Johnson has promised to create 50,000 affordable homes, including 30,000 social housing units, and to kickstart the flagging property market.
Reader views (11)
"Boris rejects bid to build housing on Green Belt"
Good!
Once it's gone there's no getting it back...
- John, London
I keep reading articles telling us that there are, in fact, millions of unoccupied homes in the UK - if these were pressed into service, and immigration reduced/halted,we could avoid covering this lovely island with concrete!
- Carver, newark,
There would not be a need to build on green belt if land already used was re-cycled problem is Boris has cancelled the DLR extention to Dagenham Dock, the East Thames Gateway Bridge and GWT therefore land that could be re-used will remain isolated and unused.
Anyway there is another way to avoid building on green belt and that is making better use of land already used so more flats and tower blocks for the suburbs which could use Croydon as a model to be copied in Ealing, Golders Green, Edmonton and Ilford etc...
While to land in East London which would have had the DLR could form an extension of Epping Forest down to the river Thames!
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex
Well done Boris - there's hope for you yet!
The recent wheeling and dealing which involves trading valuable green belt for unwanted green spaces in the middle of nowhere is nothing short of scandalous. The green belt was established for a purpose, mainly to avoid situations where we'd refer to the "London Borough of Dover" for example!
- Marianne, SW France
I wouldn't object to the building on green belts as long as the homes were intended for letting to homeless people and not for the greedy buyers and speculators on the "property ladder" to sell on. Knpwing Tories of course, they wont be.
- Thomas Hayes, Leeds UK
If we need to build on Greenfield sites then the UK population is too large. The UK already has more houses than the economy can sustain.
- Overtaxed, Farnham UK
Building on Green Belt is the only way to get quality homes and improve the quality of life for families living on top of each other. There simply aren't any brownfield sites available
- Dhanraj, basildon
Well done Boris! (I don't say that very often)
Greenfield sites should be left untouched. There are plenty of Brownfield sites available for development.
The problem is that the Landfill Tax, especially for contaminated sites, can make redevelopment unviable.
We need incentives to develop contaminated Brownfield sites so we can leave our ecer decreasing Greenfield sites alone.
- Andrew, London W1
Spot on, Mr Johnson!
- Archie, Thrapston, England
At last a politician with vision.
- Overtaxed, Farnham UK
Building homes is good, building on Green belt is bad. Good on Boris for bucking the trend.
- Mike, London
