Four London councils have refused to participate in a review of green belt land in London led by London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s office.
The review will look at land currently designated as green belt across 18 suburban boroughs with a view to assessing which areas could potentially be re-designated as grey belt and therefore available for house building.
The invitation to participate was rejected by four boroughs – Bexley, Bromley, Croydon and Hillingdon.
The review follows on from Labour’s plan to take a more strategic approach to the green belt and reclassify “low quality” parts as the newly-coined grey belt. The government hopes that it will play a significant role in achieving its target of building 1.5 million new homes during its current parliament.
The policy has received criticism, however, with the Conservatives suggesting that it is not required to tackle the housing crisis and that the green belt was necessary to prevent urban sprawl.
In December, the government announced that grant funding would be provided for authorities to carry out reviews of their green belt land with expressions of interest to be submitted to the government by January 17. Sir Sadiq Khan announced in January that a London-wide review would be held, with his office recently confirming not all of the invited council would participate.
Colin Smith, the council leader from Bromley, told The Standard: “There was no point accepting the mayor’s offer, given both the very short notice and tight deadline of his offer, as well as the fact that Bromley was already undertaking the work of its own volition.”
A Bexley Council spokesperson said: “We didn’t participate because we were given a very short deadline to decide whether or not to and hardly any information about how the GLA [Greater London Authority] proposed to go about the review.”
“Given the sensitivity and importance of the work, we decided to decline the invitation and apply for funding to do a review ourselves given our greater local knowledge of the Bexley green belt.”
“This wouldn’t preclude us from cooperating with the GLA study to ensure a joined-up approach for London whilst also allowing for a greater local perspective.”
The London Mayor’s office that the short deadline was a result of the Government’s window to express interest only being open for a month.
Khan said that the review would “help inform the development of my next London Plan, including area-specific policy approaches in relation to grey belt and green belt”, and not be used to directly reclassify specific parcels of land. The next London Plan is due to be adopted by City Hall in 2027.
A spokeswoman for Sir Sadiq Khan said: “The mayor is committed to working with boroughs across the capital to deliver the homes London desperately needs – while also ensuring that any release of green belt land meets strict requirements, based on making the best use of land to build sustainable and liveable neighbourhoods.”
“The mayor remains open to engaging with these four London boroughs in the London-wide Green Belt Review as we work to build a better, greener, fairer London for everyone.”
