Green Belt Land Expansion

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Evaluate the opinion that green belt (areas of land protected from urbanisation) land should be loosened to allow more house building in the U.K. (25 marks) (Use diagrams to help illustrate) There are many opinions on whether green belt land should be loosened to allow more house building in the U.K, some economists believe that it should be loosened, where others think the benefits wouldn’t outweigh the costs. If green belt land were to be freed up then it would mean there could be more houses built. As shown in the diagram on the right, an increase in supply would mean that the prices of houses would decrease. This could be a big benefit for the local economy as it would help first-time buyers to get onto the property…show more content…
Other people who have houses in the area will not be happy to see the price of their houses decreasing, and if they bought their houses at the peak of property prices and the impact on house prices is very dramatic then these people could experience negative equity. House prices will be affected not only because of the increase in supply of houses but also due to the fact that having the ‘green belt land’ near to the area, means house prices would be higher, as the area is more desirable to potential house buyers with this land nearby, but with urbanisation of this land, then house prices will decrease. This land may be a big tourist attraction to the local area and in losing this land, money from the tourism may be lost, jobs may be lost and the local environment will be effected, not only on plants and animals but on people as well. If the land was a national park, then where the area may have received lots of money in tourism, this will be lost as people won’t be visiting the area if it is just houses, this would affect the local economy. Jobs in looking after the area will be lost, for example park wardens and people working in information centres & visitor shops will be put out of jobs and may struggle to find a new job, if they don’t have experience in building or labouring. Also other businesses that benefit from trade from the national parks like ice cream men will lose lots of trade, and this ultimately could mean that some businesses have to close down and people will have to look to find work elsewhere. These impacts could mean that people will have less disposable incomes, meaning consumer confidence will be low, so spending will be low and so could make the economy turn stagnant. Another issue that could be created if they build these houses is that people may not buy the houses. Empty houses would mean that the land is not being used efficiently, and

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