HANDS OFF THE GREENBELT!…

HANDS OFF THE GREENBELT!

Removing protected land from the Greenbelt - even if it is replaced with an equal amount of land elsewhere - creates a dangerous precedent that will weaken the Greenbelt as a whole. If Greenbelt protection is not permanent and farmland is seen as open for development, then land speculators will buy up other plots of land, potentially making the entire Greenbelt unaffordable for farmers and farming.

Allowing development within the Greenbelt also weakens its ability to provide habitat, because many species require uninterrupted natural areas. A protected area that is riddled with warehouses and residential developments that must be connected to urban areas with pipes and roads and other infrastructure is not a protected area at all!

The government says they will replace the lost land with land elsewhere – but many of the proposed additions are already protected. Furthermore, even if those lands weren’t already protected, the very possibility of taking any land out of the Greenbelt will undermine its effectiveness by creating an open season on farmland for land speculators and sprawl developers.