Green wedges

The Green Belt (pictured right) came into being as the result of the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act. Its total area was 110,000 hectares and its purpose was to stem the sprawl of London into the surrounding countryside. In 1986 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher opened the M25 Motorway, which girdles the green belt and upon leaving which motorists heading into London from Lincolnshire or the Isle or Wight drive through several miles of countryside before reaching the outer boroughs. Since its inception the Green Belt has been ‘inviolate’. This sounds pleasant enough but only a year ago a national newspaper published a feature by a Housing and Planning Consultant who argued that London would very shortly run out of building space and the ‘out of date’ green belt is the culprit. The author did not propose an alternative; which is not to say that the Green Belt has ever been the inevitable or the only solution to a recognised problem. In 2012 the London Society was delighted to be approached by a planning specialist who wished to consult the London Society Plan of 1918 as part of his research into an alternative proposal. The results of his researches are below.