Sir – You report (December 1) that Ed Turner welcomes a new report by the think tank Policy Exchange, which recommends that developers should be given greater freedom to build on Green Belt land.

Ed Turner goes on to say that that the report makes the point “that not all land which is designated Green Belt is necessarily of intrinsic environmental value” and gives the example that Green Belt land south of Oxford city’s boundaries, where the council is keen to develop, contains a sewage works.

CPRE Oxfordshire is alarmed that Ed Turner seems to think that for land to be designated Green Belt it has to have some intrinsic ‘environmental value’. It does not.

Land is designated as Green Belt for planning policy purposes — to prevent urban sprawl, the coalescence of built-up areas and to maintain the openness around our towns and cities.

The fact that the Green Belt around Grenoble Road contains a sewage plant is irrelevant — it does not prevent the Green Belt from serving its planning function.

The Green Belt to the south of Oxford plays a pivotal role in preventing urban sprawl into the countryside south of the city, preventing the coalescence of the city and surrounding historic villages, and protecting the openness of the countryside to the south of the Oxford.

Sadly, opponents of the Green Belt will keep trundling out the idea that if it is not beautiful it doesn’t count and should be built over. It shows how wrong those who drafted the new national policy framework were to omit the reference from the original policy about the quality of the landscape not being relevant to Green Belt protection.

Helena Whall, Campaign manager, CPRE Oxfordshire