Campaigners at CPRE London [1] today (Thursday) publish new evidence showing the impact on traffic and congestion of proposals to build around 159,000 dwellings across 443 residential and commercial developments in London’s Green Belt. [2]
Alice Roberts, Head of Green Space Campaigns at CPRE London said: “Green Belts exist to help maintain compact cities where public transport can operate efficiently and people can choose to walk and cycle.”
“Building new housing in low density areas means people often have no option but to use a car for most of their weekly journeys, whether this is for work, leisure, taking children to school or visiting shops and amenities.”
“Proponents of building new housing in London’s Green Belt often justify it by claiming this will allow easy commuting by rail or tube to London. But, as our report shows, the majority of trips made to and from these new developments will in fact be made by car, even where developments are within walking or cycling distance from rail stations. In total, if development proposals go ahead, an extra 5 million car journeys per week will be made and there will be an extra 225,000 cars on the road.”
“This adds to traffic in what are often already very congested areas and to the serious levels of air pollution the London Mayor is trying to get under control. This is also in direct opposition to the Mayor’s aspirations for 4 out of 5 trips in London to be made by public transport, walking and cycling by 2041.”
Alice Roberts concluded:
“The Government promised to protect London’s Green Belt. However, local councils are now planning widespread development within it. The Government is failing to stop them and the Mayor has limited powers.”
“The Government must stick to its pledge to protect London’s Green Belt. It should direct Planning Inspectors to challenge the allocation of Green Belt sites for development in draft Local Plans, and ‘call in’ Local Plans to prevent the loss of Green Belt.”
ENDS
NOTES FOR EDITORS:
- CPRE London www.cprelondon.org.uk is a membership-based charity with 2,500 members around London, which campaigns to save Green Belt, Metropolitan Open Land and other green spaces within Greater London, and to make our capital city a better place to live for everyone. We are a branch of the national environmental charity, the Campaign to Protect Rural England.
- http://www.cprelondon.org.uk/resources/item/2379-drivingincircles The new report Driving in Circles details the research findings and sets out the implications and recommendations for action. It is accompanied by a map showing the straight line distance between the 443 (known) sites in London's Green Belt which are threatened with development and the nearest train station. Both the report and map are available at this link.
