Green Belt preservation
- This is a preview of the essay.
To view the full text you must login!
Green Belt Preservation
Discussed in the House of Commons on the 30th October 1984
Green belts are areas of parks, farmland or uncultivated land surrounding a town or a city. The development of this land, including building, industrializing and cultivating is restricted by the British government through the Town and Country Planning Act 1971. Green belts were established in the early 1960s to control urban sprawl and to protect farmland.
On the 30th October 1984, Mr. Iain Mills, an MP in the House of Commons brought forward a Bill, which proposed a short amendment to the 1971 Act in the section describing the Secretary of State's powers over deciding on green belts structure plans. In the 1971 Act, the legislation controlling development gives the Secretary of State to the Environment power to decide whether green belt projects need an exemption. Every project needs a planning application. If it is refused, there can be an appeal to the Minister, as well as a public enquiry and an inspector's report. Still, the Secretary of State for the Environment has the final decision on the project. By the Act of 1971, his decision does not have to be dependent on the Parliament...