Unit 2 Macro Building on the Green Belt in a Drive for Growth

Former Labour Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott was once (perhaps) quoted as saying: "The Green Belt is one of Labour's greatest achievements, and we intend to build on it!". Danny Boyle's dramatic and wonderful London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony "Isle's of Beauty" began with an unforgettable rural landscape which was soon to be transformed by an altogether harsher industrial landscape during the pandemonium. For many years we have regarded our greenbelt protected land as a bulwark against urban sprawl and over-rapid commercial and industrial development. But this is about to change with a change in planning laws and regulations that will make it easier to turn farmland into business parks and new housing?

This excellent news report from the Financial Times visits the beautiful city of Cambridge - perhaps my favourite place in the world! The university is about to start a huge new construction project costing more than £1 billion made possible in part by a relaxation of planning controls and for many, the move is essential for Cambridge to retain a place among the top academic institutions across the globe. But campaigning groups such as the Campaign for the Preservation of Rural England disagree making an alternative case for targeting renovation of brownfield sites. On whose fence do you sit?