Is the Green Belt a luxury we can’t afford?

The Green Belt is front page news. Headlines inform us that the Green Belt is being built on at an unprecedented rate, yet academic reports and now a major housing charity suggest we should release more land for development. The tension is palpable with the protectors of the Green Belt accused of NIMBYism and campaigners for development charged with reckless commercialism. But with the UK in the grip of a housing crisis, which is causing very real hardships, can we really afford to keep the Green Belt?

This event brings together the key campaigners on both sides of the debate and asks how we might solve the housing crisis without creating an unwanted dystopian landscape.

Speakers include:

- Paul Cheshire, professor of economic geography at London School of Economics

- Shaun Spiers, chief executive of Campaign to Protect Rural England

- Janet Askew, immediate past president at Royal Town Planning Institute

- Toby Lloyd, head of policy at Shelter UK

- Barney Stringer, director at Quod

- Chair: Lewis Blackwell, co-curator of the exhibition, Beyond the Green Belt