Local councils attacked for planning houses on green belt

A new report is criticising councils across the West Midlands for looking to build houses on green belt land rather than towns and cities.



The Campaign to Protect Rural England say we don’t need as many new builds now because of the impact of the recession, so fields should be left as they are and authorities should re-think their plans.

Government targets on housing were also removed by the new coalition.

Spokesman Gerald Kells says we now need to look at transforming run-down areas:

“We want them to go back and think ‘do we need this number of houses? Do we have to build them on these greenfield sites? Can we provide what people need better by building on urban areas or on sites that have been previously developed?’”

“We welcomed the removal of top down imposed housing numbers. But all local authorities need to be committed to building on brown field sites first, and only building on green field sites as a last resort.”

There is expected to be a severe shortage of one-bedroomed flats in two years time as a result of government changes to housing benefit rules.