At a time where we've…

At a time where we've acknowledged the climate crisis, we cannot open up our Greenbelt for more urban sprawl. Not only does this open the potential for unequal land swaps and ecological loss. We already have zoned and approved sites for new builds in our cities. We have a huge shortage of construction workers to hit our housing targets. What we need is a fundamental shift in how we design and plan our cities. More medium density or "missing middle" housing, reducing car dependency, and growing up not out. We shouldn't view locking people into soul-crushing hour long commutes as success.

This is a slippery slope to further opening up the Greenbelt. The government needs to strongly reconsider its approach in tackling the housing crisis without adding sprawl. The old saying says: Never let a good crisis go to waste. The government has an opportunity to make significant and lasting improvements to our housing policy and urban design, without opening up the Greenbelt and adding suburbs that are costly for cities to provide services to.