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%)
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.'
ENDS
Notes for
editors
The figures used in this analysis can
be found here: Peri-urban-key-data-tables.pdf
11.9 million
hectares compared with 16.8 million UK total (source:
Agricultural Land Use in United Kingdom at 1 June 2024 -
GOV.UK)