ABSTRACT
Introduction There are a number of ways in which we might assess the impacts of green belts in the UK. As they have been implemented through policies established by the UK, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish governments, we could assess them against the purposes laid down in the respective national planning policies, as set out in Tables 2.2 to 2.5. But, as we have already mentioned, there can be a difference between what such “official” policy says and what others interpret as the purposes/objectives/etc. of green belts. There are also ambiguities in government planning policy – for instance, in the previous iteration of policy relating to green belts in England contained in the now superseded Planning Policy Guidance 2, in addition to five purposes of green belts, six objectives were identified that the land within green belts could help fulfil (see Table 2.2). These objectives are no longer part of planning policy relating to England, but this does not mean they are no longer important – indeed, they may be closer to what the general public perceive as the purposes of green belts – for example ‘to provide opportunities for access to the open countryside for the urban population’ (DoE, 1995, para. 1.7). We have also to consider how we can measure impact. This chapter draws largely upon existing data sources, supplemented with our own study of the green belt around Merseyside, so we are constrained by the data that others have chosen to collect. For instance, many people have explored the impact of green belts on house prices – not something that features as a purpose/objective of green belts in the UK – but we have found very little on whether they have made a contribution to the PPG2 objective to ‘improve damaged and derelict land around towns’ (ibid.), though a study by the CPRE and Natural England (2010) is one notable exception. In this chapter, therefore, we have gathered evidence in relation to a number of (perceived) impacts that green belts have had or are having.
