The green belt problem is not one I’d considered before. I’ve always assumed the biggest problems for places like London were the endless low-density suburbs rather than the limit on building houses outside of a certain radius. If you work in the centre of London and live in some new development just outside the green belt, that already seems like something of a failure.
I don’t want to doubt the expert economic analysis though, perhaps removing it would allow people to move from the suburbs to new developments, freeing up suburb space. This also seems wrong as higher population density is the goal, but perhaps the people who are better off living outside the city are retirees or similar who reduce the demand for low-density housing in the city and therefore them leaving allows higher density housing to be built.
The green belt problem is not one I’d considered before. I’ve always assumed the biggest problems for places like London were the endless low-density suburbs rather than the limit on building houses outside of a certain radius. If you work in the centre of London and live in some new development just outside the green belt, that already seems like something of a failure.
I don’t want to doubt the expert economic analysis though, perhaps removing it would allow people to move from the suburbs to new developments, freeing up suburb space. This also seems wrong as higher population density is the goal, but perhaps the people who are better off living outside the city are retirees or similar who reduce the demand for low-density housing in the city and therefore them leaving allows higher density housing to be built.