16/09/2026
There is, undeniably, a housing crisis in the UK. House prices and even rental costs have escalated beyond the reach of a vast number of people. In order to meet demand, it is believed that London needs to build something like 88,000 new homes a year over the next decade. That’s close to a million homes, and the capital has never built that many, that quickly, ever before. It’s only come close to this rate when there was a housing boom in the 1930s, the like of which saw Coulsdon expand significantly.
Now, many people believe that the green belt is entirely made up of beautiful rolling countryside, rich with wildlife. And why not, when we have places like Farthing Downs, Happy Valley and Banstead Woods on our doorstep to enjoy. However, not all Green Belt land is like that. According to figures from the London Assembly, less than 14 per cent of the Green Belt is made up of parks and areas that the we can freely access, and a significant proportion is made up of poorly maintained, low-quality land that’s often inaccessible to the general public. Given this, the Mayor of London believes that the current position on the development of Green Belt land is out-of-date and unsustainable, and the existing strategy of only building on ‘brownfield’ (previously developed land) sites doesn’t meet the scale of the challenge. So, the new proposal is that selected, low-quality parts of the Green Belt should be designated for housing development, which would significantly aid achieving the ambitious target for new homes.
Nine of the ten areas potentially impacted by the Mayor’s plan are in the north of London. In Croydon, the areas of existing Green Belt land that form part of this proposal are focused on and around New Addington, including Featherbed Lane and Gravel Hill, stretching across to Addiscombe and Ashburton in the north of the borough. The key factor in this is the proximity to public transport links such as trains and trams. There are no proposals, at this time, to develop Green Belt land in the south of the borough.
Chris Philp, the Conservative MP for Croydon South and Shadow Home Secretary, while recognising the capital’s need for more new homes, is opposed to any use of Croydon’s Green Belt land for housing. He believes that the use of ‘brownfield’ sites and a renewed focus on the re-activation of ‘stalled’ developments elsewhere across London would remove the need for such action, along with providing higher density developments in town centres and other suitable locations. The redevelopment of the Whitgift Centre in central Croydon as a majoritively high-density residential area, as has been proposed by its new owners Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, for instance.
In order to underline his opposition to the proposals, Mr Philp has had a petition launched, and is asking for those who share his views to sign it. When complete, he will present it to the Mayor of London along with his demand that there be no development on Croydon’s Green Belt under any circumstances.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/savethecroydongreenbelt
If you feel that Chris Philp’s position on excluding all Green Belt land in Croydon from housing development is right, then please use the link above to complete the petition.
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