The Green Belt and similar areas of countryside around England’s towns and cities produce an outsize share of foods traditionally eaten at Christmas, according to new analysis from CPRE, the countryside charity. These areas could be at a much increased risk of development under the government’s new ‘grey belt’ policy, announced in the new National Planning Policy Framework.
The analysis covers all fourteen of England’s Green Belts as well as land within 5km of urban areas with a population of more than 100,000 but not officially designated as Green Belt (such as Leicester, Plymouth and Hull).
The ‘grey belt’ policy will undermine protections for the Green Belt. Current proposals could see parts of working farms designated as ‘grey belt’ and considered suitable sites for new homes.
Although the area studied represents approximately 11.3% of total UK farmland1, it produces higher proportions of the total UK supply of several key foods, including:
- Wheat (21.1%)
- Oats (20.6%)
- Barley (20%)
- Potatoes (14.3%)
- Milk (13.3%)
- Vegetables (11.5%)
- Beef (11.4%)
The analysis also reveals that farmland around our towns and cities punches above its weight economically, representing 14.2% (£3.3 billion) of UK farming’s total turnover.
Roger Mortlock, chief executive of CPRE, the countryside charity, said:
‘The countryside around our towns and cities plays a vital role in putting food on our plates. Building on the so-called “grey belt” will not provide the genuinely affordable and social rented homes that people in this country need.”
‘The alternative is out there – previous CPRE research has shown that there are enough shovel-ready brownfield sites in England alone for 1.2 million new homes. At a time when the Green Belt has massive potential to address the climate and nature crises – as well as provide us with much-needed food – we should be thinking about what it can deliver, not what it blocks.’
Graeme Willis, CPRE agriculture lead, said:
‘It might surprise many people in towns and cities to learn that food for their Christmas dinner is farmed so close to where they live. Recent decades have seen thousands of farms lost from these parts of the country, however, with highly productive farmland lost forever to development. This new analysis shows how important the Green Belt and areas like it are for food production, something that appears lost on the government as it pushes ahead with its “grey belt” policy.’
