Our green belt is under threat. We can only lose it once. Losing it will forever alter the environment of our great city. The green belt are not just the lungs of London, the beautiful open and green space – made up of farms, fields and woodland – not only helps keep our air clean, but also offers huge physical and mental health benefits.
This isn’t just an Outer London issue. Concreting over the green belt means it will take longer and be more difficult for those in Inner London to reach these beautiful spaces. That is why the battle to save the green belt is raging across Greater London, from resident association meetings in public halls to council chambers.
Yet where is London’s Mayor, Sir Sadiq Khan, in this battle? His actions contradict his words. He talks about the importance of the green belt, yet his agencies like Transport for London (TfL) are trying to force councils to build on popular and well-used parks.
Since Labour came to power nationally, the Mayor of London seems to have lost his voice. Instead, he now parrots government lines like a broken record, refusing to stand up or speak up for London.
I represent Bexley and Bromley (the Garden of London) at City Hall. The green belt is part of the DNA of the communities I represent.
This is why for months, alongside my colleague Alessandro Georgiou, I have been scrutinising the Mayor’s increasingly aggressive stance on developing greenbelt land.
Transport for London has been quietly pushing plans to concrete over vast swathes of protected countryside, all while claiming to be a champion of environmental causes. We’ve questioned the Mayor to his face, we’ve passed motions calling on the Assembly to save green belt land, and at every opportunity given to us, we have sat Sadiq Khan’s officers down to ask them why they think this is the right thing to do.
The responses have been, to say the least, unacceptable. The Mayor is not acting for Londoners, he is simply doing Sir Kier Starmer’s bidding.
Housing targets do not solve a housing crisis. Labour is sacrificing the green belt to meet arbitrary targets which often do not reflect the demand in a local area. Too many one and two-bedroom flats are being built, not enough good-sized family homes.
There is no plan to address the underlying issues in the market, such as outdated mortgage calculations, counting rent payments on credit files, sky-high deposit requirements.
It is dangerously naive to think this crisis can be solved by only building new homes alone. It doesn’t matter how many homes are built if no one can buy them.
The green belt is not just lovely to look at – it is important to our food security and national resilience.
One-third of London’s greenbelt is productive farmland. These aren’t just pretty fields for weekend ramblers – they’re working landscapes that feed our city.
Labour’s war on the green belt is just another front in the Government’s war on farmers, who form a crucial part of our local food security network.
In Westminster and City Hall, Rachel Reeves and Sir Sadiq threaten to decimate London farming by breaking up estates with their family farm tax and forcing the land into the hands of developers looking to concrete across the city.
No thought is given to the farmers who have kept these fields for generations, no thought is given to the communities in London that will rapidly transform as green spaces erode and high-rises take their place. These short-sighted, ill-thought out policies will leave the UK more reliant on imports in an increasingly dangerous world.
Sadiq Khan has caused misery to families and businesses across Outer London by needlessly expanding ULEZ. I’ve spoken to people who can no longer get to medical appointments, families who visit each other less, businesses who have had to lay off staff, all to fund the Mayor’s £12.50 a day drivers’ tax. The Mayor did this under the guise of improving air quality. Air quality in Outer London was already better than the rest of London because of the lungs of London – the Green Belt.
Now that same Mayor is standing by and letting his Labour mates bulldoze through plans to concrete over our vital Green Belt. The hypocrisy is staggering. This is the same Labour Party that claims to care about our environment, working people, and sustainable communities. Yet their actions tell a different story – one of concrete, construction, and contempt for rural livelihoods.
The green belt isn’t just about preserving pretty views – it’s about maintaining the character of our great city. It’s about ensuring that future generations of Londoners can still connect with nature without having to travel hours from the capital.
During World War 2, evacuated children from London spoke about having never seen a cow before. Now we have Hamish the Highland Cow living in my constituency.
It is crucial that people from across our city have access to open and green spaces, that children learn and experience the importance of wildlife. That’s why the green belt matters so much.
It’s about clean air, mental wellbeing, and the very identity of London itself. It’s about supporting local businesses who farm and keep the land for future generations to enjoy as part of their communal inheritance. The sad truth is Labour just doesn’t care.
Labour’s plans fail farmers, fail families, fail young people, fail workers. Labour’s plans fail. They fail to address the underlying issues in the housing market. Fail to protect our environment. Failings that mean woodlands become tower blocks.
Just like with the human body, if Labour cuts out the lungs of London then the capital will be severely weakened. We can only lose it once.
Thomas Turrell is a Conservative London Assembly member