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Documents
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom with a total
population of 9,002,488. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the
head of a 50-mile (80 km) estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major
settlement for two millennia.

MAPS OF LONDON

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Document 1 : https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/londons-population

Document 2:

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Document 3

London’s urban sprawl by Leo Gregory, Hampton School

30th April 2020
https://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/youngreporter/18418475.londons-urban-sprawl-leo-
gregory-hampton-school/

In London, this uncontrolled horizontal growth of urban cities is

encroaching on adjacent natural and agricultural land that is necessary to
local food systems. Alongside land loss, there is of course habitat loss and
reduction in biodiversity. The introduction of invasive species and
increased occurrences of flooding can also be resultant effects. On top of
that, increases in urban heat islands, where areas of land become
significantly higher in temperatures as a result of increased human
activities could lead to severe health repercussions, such as increased risk
of mortality for elders.

Document 4

The edges of cities are known as the rural urban fringe. There has been
increasing building in these areas because of housing pressure, despite
Greenbelt legislation (laws) that are supposed to prevent building
there. Urban sprawl can have many impacts on these areas: Extra cost to
the tax payer – the public help to pay for infrastructure such as roads and
water works to allow building developments to go ahead; Increased Traffic
– extra people in these areas means that cars are used more often, which
means that there is more traffic on the roads, and there is also more air
pollution and more accidents; Health Issues – people in these areas often
have to commute to work which means that they often travel by car. This
can have negative impacts on people’s health such as high blood pressure;
Environmental Issues -sprawling cities consume land, and this displaces
animals from their habitat; Impact on Social Lives – people in sprawling
communities can often live further from their neighbors, this can cause
isolation.
https://www.coolgeography.co.uk/gcsen/London_Challenges.php

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Document 5

In Defense Of Sprawl
London's sprawl was attacked just like sprawl today. Although the middle-
class families moving into those row houses were thrilled to have homes of
their own, members of the artistic and intellectual elite were nearly
unanimous in their condemnation. They castigated the row houses as ugly
little boxes put up by greedy speculators willing to ruin the beautiful
countryside in order to wrest the last penny out of every square inch of
land. They were confident that they would become slums within a
generation. The Duke of Wellington spoke for many when he denounced the
railroads that made these suburban neighborhoods possible as only
encouraging “common people to move around needlessly.”
Of course, today these neighborhoods are widely considered to be the very
essence of central London, the kind of place that the current elite feels
must be protected at all cost from the terrible development going on at the
new edge of the city. And so it has gone with every major boom period in
urban history, from the ancient Romans until today. As each new group has
moved up to newer and better housing by moving out from the central city,
there has always been another group of individuals ready to denounce the
entire process.
(…)There is no reason to assume that high-density living is necessarily more
sustainable or liable to damage the environment than low-density living. If
everyone in the affluent West were to spread out in single-family houses
across the countryside at historically low densities (and there is plenty of
land to do this, even in the densest European counties), it is quite possible,
with wind, solar, biomass and geothermal energy, to imagine a world in
which most people could simply decouple themselves from the expensive
and polluting utilities that were necessary in the old high-density industrial
city. Potentially, they could collect all their own energy on-site and achieve
carbon neutrality.
(…) Certainly sprawl has created some problems, just as every settlement
pattern has. But the reason it has become the middle-class settlement
pattern of choice is that it has given them much of the privacy, mobility and
choice once enjoyed only by the wealthiest and most powerful.

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https://www.forbes.com/2007/06/11/defense-sprawl-suburbs-biz-
21cities_cx_rb_0611sprawl.html?sh=2c78ccf15277

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In British town planning, the green belt is

a policy for controlling urban growth. The
idea is for a ring of countryside where
urbanisation will be resisted for the
foreseeable future, maintaining an area
where agriculture, forestry and outdoor
leisure can be expected to prevail. The
fundamental aim of green belt policy is to
prevent urban sprawl by keeping land

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permanently open, and consequently the most important attribute of green

belts is their openness.

Document 9
The Green Belt is intended to check further growth of large built up areas (sprawl), to
prevent neighbouring towns from merging into one another, and to preserve the special
character of towns. Inside a Green Belt, approval should neither be given, except in very
special circumstances, for the construction of new buildings, or for the change of use of
existing buildings, nor for purposes other than agriculture, sport, cemeteries, institutions
standing in extensive grounds, or other uses appropriate to a rural area.
The main benefit of protected land relates to the purpose of the protection, that is to say
– avoiding urban sprawl.

- Avoiding the costs of urban sprawl Urban sprawl has multiple economic costs,
including increased travel costs; decreased economic vitality of urban centres;
increased tax burdens due to more expensive road and utility construction and
maintenance; increased car use leading to higher air pollution and increased
health care costs for diseases like asthma, and loss of productive farmland and
natural lands that support tourism.
- Two-thirds of all Green Belt land is in agricultural use; not surprising given its
proximity to potential markets in the city. This is a vital economic resource for food
security and soil protection.

In recent years, the benefits are understood to extend further:

- Recreation, sport, health Green Belt protection has ensured Londoners enjoy
open land and countryside in and near the city. Many areas of Green Belt are
country parks or playing fields, they support sport and recreation, tourism and
health – including reducing stress by providing peaceful, breathing spaces and
9,899km of public rights of way
- eco-system benefits Different types of open land provide multiple eco-system
benefits which include urban cooling, improved air quality, flood protection and
carbon absorption (especially woodland areas), as well as local food production.
- Future proofing As London grows into a higher density city, so more people come
to rely on protected green spaces for the many benefits they provide. Land
protection policy recognises that these protected lands may be, and in fact
stipulates that they should be, enhanced to provide more benefits in
future.https://londongreenbeltcouncil.org.uk/about-londons-green-belt/£

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Document 10

Doc11

The consensus for green belt reform is growing –

so too is the pressure for Government to act
Politicians and campaigners from across the political spectrum are coming
together to push for changes to green belt policies
published on 11 May 2018 by Anthony Breach on centreforcities.org

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(…) Centre for Cities has come together with Siobhain McDonagh MP, and 60 other
signatories from across the political spectrum, to submit an open letter today calling for
reform of green belt restrictions.
Specifically, the letter called for green belt land that’s within 1km of train and tube
stations and 45 minutes away from Zone 1 London to be released for new homes. We
reckon this could supply enough land to build 1 million homes, more than enough for
London’s needs over the next ten years.
(…) Releasing some land in these areas would help address the fundamental problem
underpinning the housing crisis in successful cities such as London: supply. For years
our cities have not been able to release enough land to accommodate their population
and economic growth. This shortage has pushed the average house price in London up
to almost 17 times local incomes – compared to five and a half times local incomes in
Liverpool, for example – despite London’s higher wages.
Moreover, the green belt does not just restrict housing supply around London, it also
results in housing development leapfrogging the green belt, and being built in areas far
away from London (on the other side of the green belt). That means longer commutes
for people working in London, and it’s also bad news for the environment, as it results in
more carbon-intensive journeys into the capital each day.
What needs to change
The reality is that releasing more land in or near London where we can build more
homes is the only way we can tackle the capital’s housing shortage, and this is exactly
what our joint letter proposes.
Crucially, it also suggests releasing new land in the right places. Land next to train and
tube stations is exceptionally valuable, especially that on lines heading into London. If
we allowed people rather than bushes to live in these areas closer to the city, we’d be
able to minimise new infrastructure costs and commuting by car. In combination, we
could make housing more affordable, support economic growth in high demand cities,
and help the climate from reduced future carbon emissions
https://www.centreforcities.org/blog/consensus-green-belt-reform-growing-pressure-
government-act/

Doc12
London: Is it time to build on the green belt to meet housing demand?
By Tom Edwards, Sam Francis & Leana Hosea
BBC London- Published 31 August 2021

According to its supporters, London's green belt is the ultimate guarantee that the
land is kept green and pleasant. But as pressure on housing in London increases is
it time to build on the green belt?

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(…) Rob Hayward, a tenant farmer and former Conservative councillor, has farmed on
Enfield’s fields for generations. He is worried the council will try to move into the green
belt and build homes.
"These are the lungs of London," Mr Hayward said. "You have only got to look at how
beautiful it is. It's fantastic but I'm worried it's not just my livelihood but my children's
livelihood. It's our home and everything."
(…) Sweeping changes to England's planning rules, announced by Prime Minister Boris
Johnson, would allow building on the green belt, but only in "exceptional
circumstances".
But, according to the London Green Belt Council, there are currently plans to build more
than 233,000 new houses in the green belt - a 200% increase in developments since
2016.
(…) City Hall estimates London requires about 66,000 new homes a year to provide
enough properties to be ready for expected population growth.
This target has never been achieved in the 21-year history of the mayor of London.
In 2018-19, the last financial year with complete figures, about 36,000 new homes were
built, according to the London Development Database. Of these, 6,500 were affordable
homes.
(…) Jonathan Seager, from London First, argues politicians need a more nuanced
approach to the green belt. "We want to keep the green belt. It is a concept that keeps
us merging into other cities," he said." But not all of the land within the green belt is
pleasant, green and accessible. Politicians need to think carefully about the type of land
which is in the green belt - look at sites on the green belt which are brownfield sites1, or
of low quality, close to existing stations, which could be potentially be developed with
the local community." https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-58331413

1
A brownfield site is an area that has been used before and tends to be disused or derelict land.
Such sites are usually abandoned areas that were used for industrial purposes.
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