Labour’s City man gets real over green belt
Building in Britain is not always easy, as the debacle over airport expansion shows. The government satisfied business groups yesterday by revealing its intention to allow a third runway at Heathrow – but even though Theresa May has acted reasonably quickly, the verdict follows years of dawdling, and arrives nearly half a century after Harold Wilson asked the Roskill Commission to examine the prospect of a new airport for London.
This newspaper hopes Heathrow’s extra runway gets built, despite the significant obstacles that remain in its way. We also continue to hope the UK, somehow, starts to build its way out of a housing crisis that has caused so much damage in London and the south east – and beyond. The cost of housing is especially elevated in London (to such an extent that several large companies have voiced their concerns about the impact on employees, and thus on the city’s global competitiveness) but is also a serious problem in other parts of the country: primarily urban areas that are surrounded by so-called green belts.
Read more: One new runway isn’t enough for our ultra dynamic aviation industry
Politicians are reticent to endorse any reform of our green belt system, and it’s easy to see why. Even the term “green belt” itself is cleverly branded, prompting voters to conjure up images of undulating, green, quintessentially English pastures under threat from grotty, polluting diggers. (The reality is far different – green belt land typically includes undeveloped suburban areas which, untouched, often provide little aesthetic or environmental value. The only reason building was blocked in these areas, several decades ago, was to prevent “urban sprawl”.)
It is refreshing, therefore, to see Labour’s new shadow City minister stick his neck out and call for the building of crucial new homes in his constituency. Jonathan Reynolds, MP for Stalybridge and Hyde, argued this week that the green belt came into effect after World War Two, at a time when housing demand was being met by the construction of new satellite towns – a far different situation to the one we find ourselves in today. “It has always been the case that it must be reviewed every few 30-40 years.
Read more: Half of London business say it's time to rethink the Green Belt
The last time the Greater Manchester Green Belt was re-assessed was in 1984,” he wrote. “We all want our children and grandchildren to be able to live in decent homes, and everyone’s house was a new development at one time.”
Reynolds’ constituency affairs may have nothing to do with the City, but his position on housing is bold and reveals an instinctive concern for economic development – two traits that will go down well in the Square Mile.