Chiltern Society calls on election candidates to protect Green Belt

The Chiltern Society has written to every general election candidate standing in the 16 constituencies across the Chilterns region asking them to support its campaign to protect the Green Belt and the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) from overdevelopment.

“Eight out of ten councils in the Chilterns are considering building thousands of homes in Green Belt because there isn’t anywhere else to build them if they are to comply with existing rules on calculating housing requirements,” said Society Chairman, David Harris.

“The ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to calculating future housing numbers clearly doesn’t work in places like the Chilterns where there are large areas of Green Belt and an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

“We are making every candidate aware of this critical situation and pointing out that in our view the recent Housing White Paper makes no attempt to solve the problem.”

He added: “When assessing future housing the next Government needs to allow for flexibility. It is essential that housing targets in areas constrained by AONB and Green Belt should be lower to give meaningful and effective protection to these areas. The Chilterns, a vital green lung for London and the south east, will suffer irreversible damage if a tidal wave of new housing in permitted.”