Scottish Green Belts Alliance

What do we do?


Green Belt is designated open land
around, beside or in an urban area
for which there is a
presumption against development
except for specified, mostly rural uses.

Where are the Scottish green belts?

The Scottish Green Belts Alliance links 11 organisations, local and national, to provide a national voice on green belts. See the menu above for Our views.

A draft Scottish Planning Policy ( SPP ) 21: Green Belts was out for public consultation until 28th October 2004. We produced a response to the consultation as well as a full report on green belts.SPP21 was released on 27 April 2006 - available from a Scottish Executive web page. See our reactions to it.

In mid 2009 member groups responded to consultation on merging SPP21 into sections 159 - 164 of the single document Scottish Planning Policy (SPP), which was published in February 2010. Although the policy was not changed, much detail was lost as SPP21 was condensed into just over a single page.

The SGBA was formed after several members of voluntary organisations with remits that include green belts in Scotland made contact with each other early in 2004. We were concerned to take part in the proposed development of the new Scottish Planning Policy for green belts, which Margaret Curran announced later.

The Scottish Executive had sponsored research on green belts, to assess the operation and application of the present policy, and advise on changes. On 23rd January 2004 the Scottish Executive hosted a one-day seminar on green belts. The focus was an introduction to a study by a team from Heriot-Watt University which carried out a literature search on green belts, a review of development plans and case studies in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, Dundee and Angus, Edinburgh and Midlothian and aspects of Glasgow and the Clyde Valley. See our views on the research report.

Foundation members of the Scottish Green Belts Alliance have prepared a paper on our joint views about policy change: The Future of Green Belts in Scotland A draft was delivered to the Executive in November 2004. A revised draft was sent to the Executive for the Task Group which is advising them on the new policy.

On 25th November 2004 three members of the Alliance had a constructive meeting with Scottish Executive officers who are responsible for creating the draft SPP on green belts.

On 30th July 2005 the SGBA issued a press release anticipating the draft SPP 21, giving our main views on green belt policy.

We submitted our comments on the consultative draft SPP 21 in October 2005.

Join us?

Other groups probably exist and if so we hope they will join us. There is no fee - we are working voluntarily, and with small donations from members' organisations. All we ask is sympathy for the Alliance's aims and general support for its preliminary report. Environmental and amenity groups, Community Councils and other civic bodies are welcome, and not just those with green belts. It could be that more green belts should be created, and this has been the launch of a popular movement.

See also where are the Scottish green belts?

   Go back to top

t h e  f i n e  p r i n t
 Copyright: anyone is free to copy sections any of our publications as long as they acknowledge the source.

 We try to be legal, decent, honest and truthful, and have made every effort to present fair opinions and accurate facts. Please email any corrections.

www.greenbelts.ukos.com/index.html created 3/12/04, modified 23/10/2011 by Dutyhog.

 Search this web site for:

Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!

 This site looks best with recent browsers. It is OK with Netscape Navigator 9, Explorer 9, Opera 8, Safari 4 and Firefox 3 for Mac OSX, and with Explorer 5, 6 & 7 in Windows 98, NT & XP.