Letter: Green Party MEP Gives Support To Green Belt Protesters

Published on: 13 May, 2014
Updated on: 13 May, 2014

From Keith Taylor MEP, South East England (Green Party)

I am writing to offer my support to the Guildford Greenbelt Group’s (GGG) campaign to defend the green belt in and around Guildford borough.

Keith Taylor MEP.

The green belt is vitally important. It prevents urban sprawl, stopping towns merging into each other. It provides space for recreation and for wildlife. It also ensures there is land around big cities which could provide the food and other amenities they need. The Metropolitan Green Belt has done a fantastic job of preserving the character of our towns, villages and countryside, and it should be off limits for development.

Councils like Guildford are in a difficult position, compelled by the Government to deliver housing targets that have been set too high. Central government says that ever more houses need to be built, but in the South East our green spaces are already scarce, our roads congested, and air pollution high. We do need affordable places for our young people and key workers to live in. That means urban regeneration, bringing empty homes back into use, and redeveloping appropriate brownfield sites. It does not mean big estates on the edges of our towns.

Across the South East, Greens are challenging the government and local councils to set and to allow housing targets which are based on genuine local needs, not developers’ wishes. We are also calling for a national plan to take the pressure of the South East and breathe vitality back into struggling former industrial communities elsewhere.

I know that you will be putting all these arguments and more during the consultation on the draft Guildford Local Plan this spring and I will support you in calling for the housing target to be reduced and the threats to the green belt removed.

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