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The Oxford Green Belt is one of the most important campaign issues for CPRE Oxfordshire today. By safeguarding land from development, the Green Belt has for over fifty years protected the setting of the historic city of Oxford and prevented the uncontrolled urban sprawl witnessed in many other places.

However, despite the long-standing strategy for the market towns to absorb growth within the County to relieve pressures in Oxford, the 21st century has seen the Green Belt under serious threats from a range of developments, as the City itself promotes further urban expansion and developers cast covetous eyes on the open countryside around this prosperous city.

CPRE has campaigned for decades to protect and strengthen our Green Belts and make full use of the opportunities they provide for people to appreciate their local countryside. As well as a key planning tool, they are an important and irreplaceable environmental resource that can help promote locally grown food, support wildlife and provide breathing space for city dwellers.

We have therefore decided to map these development threats to graphically demonstrate the real risks facing the open countryside around the City, countryside and green fields that many of us take for granted. We will keep the interactive map updated as required

Interactive Map

Map data kindly created by George Gingell

Background Information

It is often said that the Green Belt is one of the few planning policies recognised by the public. The term "Green Belt" may be well known, but it is often misunderstood and many people mistakenly believe that all open countryside is classified as some form of "Green Belt".

The concept of having a "green belt" around London to restrain appalling urban sprawl had been promoted by the CPRE and others from about 1930. Following a 20 year campaign, the Government's "Green Belt" circular as it became known was published in 1955 and much of it still forms current policy. Proposals for the Oxford Green Belt were submitted in 1958 but for various reasons were not formally approved until 1975. The Green Belt around the city covers 33,700 hectares, about 13% of the total area of the County.

Present policy is enshrined in PPG2 - "Planning Policy Guidance 2 - Green Belts".

The overall intention of the Green Belt is expressed as:

"The fundamental aim of Green Belt policy is to prevent urban sprawl by keeping land permanently open; the most important attribute of Green Belts is their openness. Green Belts can shape patterns of urban development at sub-regional and regional scale, and help to ensure that development occurs in locations allocated in development plans. They help to protect the countryside, be it in agricultural, forestry or other use. They can assist in moving towards more sustainable patterns of urban development".

So what are the purposes of the Green Belt? PPG2 sets out five key purposes:

Check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas;

Prevent neighbouring towns from merging into one another;

Assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment;

Preserve the setting and special character of historic towns; and

Assist in urban regeneration, by encouraging the recycling of derelict and other urban land.

Oxford is of course one of the ancient English cities and the historic setting for the City and its "dreaming spires" is extremely important.

The latest revision of PPG2 has also added a list of "positive uses" once the Green Belt has been defined, such as access to the open countryside and outdoor recreation, but goes on to qualify this with:

"The extent to which the use of land fulfils these objectives is however not itself a material factor in the inclusion of land within a Green Belt, or in its continued protection. For example, although Green Belts often contain areas of attractive landscape, the quality of the landscape is not relevant to the inclusion of land within a Green Belt or to its continued protection. The purposes of including land in Green Belts are of paramount importance to their continued protection, and should take precedence over the land use objectives."

New research from Natural England concludes that after fifty years the Oxford Green Belt still forms a vital environmental asset. It is:

the best means of protecting the Oxfordshire countryside from urban sprawl;

a valuable resource for people to exercise and enjoy peace and quiet;

a large area of truly rural landscape on the edge of our historic city;

important for agriculture; and

of growing importance for wildlife.

Given the context of an economically buoyant County, it is perhaps not surprising why the Oxford Green Belt is constantly under threat from development, from major urban extensions to wind turbines.

But CPRE Oxfordshire strongly believes that the Green Belt remains a vital tool in promoting sustainable forms of living, safeguarding the open countryside and protecting the character of one of England's ancient cities.

Find Out More

Below are a list of links to further information regarding this campaign:

Government Green Belt Policy (PPG2)

Wikipedia on the history and facts of the green belts

Natural England and CPRE 'Green Belts: a Greener Future' (January 2010)

Urban extension south of Grenoble Road

The Oxford Green Belt Way Website

Oxford Green Belt Network