An investigation into the effect of green belt upon the housing crisis in the UK

Abstract

The topic of this dissertation discusses the effect that the Green Belt classification is having upon the housing crisis in the United Kingdom. There has been a massive deficit in the number of homes constructed, when compared to the populations demand for homes. This has been the case for a number of decades and has prompted the government to commit to help the industry build more homes to meet this demand. The freeing up of Green Belt land is seen by some as a possible solution to aiding this construction of new homes on the perimeters of towns. By supplying good quality accessible land for development. This research attempts to consider obstacles to this and focuses on what effect public opinion to protect these areas, has upon the construction of new homes. The research adopted a quantitative research methodology which took the form of a questionnaire survey. This was distributed using an online based survey service. The surveys were distributed to Local Authorities, contractors and the general public sample groups in the North West of England. The questionnaire survey was chosen to ask closed ended questions to allow statistical data analysis of the results which could be discussed for the purpose of this dissertation. The data was analysed using descriptive statistic in the form of the range, mean and standard deviation. The use of cross tabulation was also incorporated to allow the comparison of different sample groups, choices and opinions. The research concludes by highlighting that 240,000 homes are anticipated to be built to meet the growing population and more if the decades of under supply is to be addressed. It identifies the five purposes of Green Belt determined by the National Planning Policy Framework. The public objection investigated further
through the two hypotheses. The research analysis rejects the first, which states that public option is limiting development. The second, referring to better informed public giving more support for development in Green Belt land, is accepted as the
research supports this.