The future of the green belt is under immense pressure to meet the governments house building targets including Epping Forest District Council.  EFDC proposes to allocate parts of our Green Belt to potential future housing well above historic needs. In fact In response to a recent survey by the London Green Belt Council, EFDC stated that “releases” (i.e. destruction) of Green Belt was “very likely”.

All is not lost as there is strong opposition to the plans both from the general public and certain quarters within parliament itself.  An all-party parliamentary group on the Green Belt recently called for evidence about this and the London Green Belt Council replied. A link to the response is shown below.  (Epping Society is a member of LGBS).

LGBC_response_to_call_for_evidence

There is a very important point for Epping contained in the document which states “The most serious threats to the Green Belt arise when Local Plans are being reviewed“. So when will EFDC adopt a local plan for Epping? Well if you look at document they released last year it shows “Expected Adoption & Publication (including proposals map) – not until June 2016″. It will be over 2 years before EFDC adopt a document which the London Green Belt Council states is the most serious threat to the green belt.

Regulation 26

So where is the green belt, an interactive map can be found at this link Interactive Map