LUC hosts Colne Valley Regional Park inner Green Belt workshop on policy changes and solutions
LUC recently hosted a workshop in its London office alongside Colne Valley Regional Park, gathering a diverse group of experts.
The aim was to explore some of the challenges of implementing Green Belt policy in the inner Green Belt, close to large built-up areas and in between neighbouring towns.
The pressures these areas face for development and opportunities to improve the beneficial uses of the Green Belt are often greatest, even in designated regional parks.
Philip Smith extended a warm welcome, with Lord Randall of Uxbridge steering the event. The event saw presentations from Stewart Pomeroy, Matt Kirby, Catriona Riddell, Doug McNab, and Josh Allen. The rich and wide-ranging discussion that followed homed in on short-term practical measures and broader calls for planning reform.
The consensus was that Green Belts still make an important strategic contribution, but that the modern planner’s toolbox contains sharper implements for protecting and enhancing the open countryside. It's imperative to utilise them all in crafting multifunctional landscapes around our towns and cities that serve people and nature.
LUC and National Trust colleagues highlighted work on the 8 Hills Spatial Framework as a positive and proactive example of protecting and enhancing the inner Green Belt.
