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THE number of new houses to be built on England’s green belt has risen to more than a quarter of a million, campaigners warned yesterday.
Some 274,792 homes are planned on what have been protected areas of land around towns and cities, about 55,000 more than were listed in March last year, research by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) revealed.
The belt around London is most under pressure, with 117,208 homes proposed, a rise of 35 per cent on the number identified by the CPRE when it undertook research at the same time last year.
CPRE planning campaigner Paul Miner said: “To build the affordable homes young people and families need, the government should empower councils to prioritise the use of brownfield sites.
“Brownfield land is a self-renewing resource that can provide at least one million new homes.”
The government said there are no plans to relax protections to build on green-belt land and that councils are already expected to prioritise brownfield sites.
