From The Evening Standard:
Our green belt is the envy of the world (1); it is a green lung,(2) provides space for recreation(3) and is a check against unsustainable urban sprawl(4). Once it is paved over, it is gone for ever...(5)
Nicky Gavron (Lab), chair, London Assembly Planning Committee (6)
FFS.
1) In my line of work and daily life, I meet a disportionate number of people from abroad, and I sometimes ask them what drew them to England.
There's a fairly short list of answers, and never, ever, ever, has any of them ever mentioned The Hallowed Green Belt. Ever. And as we know, most tourists from abroad visit London, and if not, then Oxford or Cambridge or something.
2) That's a terrible Americanism, and "green lung" refers to an area of natural parkland within an urban region. Woodhouse Moor in Leeds, Platt Fields Park/Birchfields Park in Manchester etc. It does not refer to "farmland". Urban parks are worth their weight in gold*, but I'm not aware that parks like this are unusual to the UK.
3) 99% of "green belt" is private farmland around towns and cities, which does not provide a single square inch of space for recreation. Ag land owners wage their own private war on the ramblers.
4) People gotta live somewhere. If they live in smaller towns out in the countryside, then they just commute longer distances and are less likely to use public transport.
5) Once you've eaten some carrots, they are gone for ever. Use a liter of petrol and it's gone forever. But well built new housing will effectively last forever (centuries) and the land under them really will last forever. And the land is not "gone", it's just being used for a higher value purpose. For ever.
6) Were he a Tory MP or councillor from the stockbroker belt wanting the maintain the scarcity value of his constituents' homes, fair enough, but this guy is supposed to be on the people's side.
* Not literally, obviously.
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