Drop in opposition to green belt development

A smaller proportion of people appear to be opposed to development of the green belt than 10 years ago, a poll commissioned by a campaign group has shown.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has today published results of a poll showing nearly two-thirds of people – 64% – agree that the green belt should be protected.

A total of 17% disagreed and 19% neither greed or disagreed. A similar poll commissioned by CPRE exactly 10 years ago showed 84% of respondents agreed green belt land should “remain open and undeveloped”.

A CPRE spokesperson said: “It could be remarked that those supporting green belt protection appears to have fallen since 2005. CPRE believes that possible reasons for this include rising house prices and a static housebuilding sector.” It however, pointed out that the wording of the question and information given to respondents differed slightly.

CPRE is opposed to building on the green belt – areas between large urban areas in which new building is not allowed – and said the results of the latest poll show “clear support for the green belt”.

Shaun Spiers, chief executive of CPRE, said: “A growing number of think-tanks, developers andbusiness groups are gunning for the green belt, arguing with very little evidence that we need tobuild on it to tackle the country’s housing crisis.

“It [the green belt] has protected countryside and aided the regeneration of towns and cities across England.”

The latest CPRE/Ipsos Mori poll surveyed 845 adults across England. The sample was weighted according to age, social grade, region, tenure, ethnicity and working status.

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