Prescott's elastic belt
From John Hayes MP Sir: John Prescott, in his prickly response to Rod Liddle (Letters, 10 April), repeats the government's standard defence of its unpleasant neglect of England's landscape — we have protected 'valuable green space. In fact we've added 25,000 hectares to the green belt,' he says.
Mr Prescott's belt appears to be elastic, however. According to the House of Commons library, the government is 'imprecise' and 'evasive' about how much inner green belt has been developed since 1997.
The green belt was always intended to be a tight belt of land to prevent urban sprawl. Yet analysis reveals that Mr Prescott's much vaunted additions are in a few limited areas — all in the north of England. In fact almost all the increases (22,630 hectares) can be attributed to Blyth Valley, Tynedale, Bolsover and Blackburn — areas that fairly describe themselves as remote and scenic, rather than suffering the threat of encroaching concrete.
The government will not say why the additions to the green belt are so far from the places where there is most pressure for development. Far from containing urban expansion, the green belt is being used by Labour in a futile attempt to stifle proper criticism of their failure to stop urban sprawl.
So perhaps it's time for John Prescott, not Rod Liddle, to belt up.
John Hayes MP
Shadow Minister for Housing, London SW1
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