TheWest Midlands Green Belt is a statutorygreen beltenvironmental andplanning policy that regulates the rural space within theWest Midlands region ofEngland. It is contained within the counties of theWest Midlands,Shropshire,Staffordshire,Warwickshire andWorcestershire. Essentially, the function of the green belt is to rigorously manage development around the cities, towns and villages in the large West Midlands conurbations centred aroundBirmingham andCoventry, discouraging convergence.[1] It is managed bylocal planning authorities on guidance from central government.
Land area taken up by the green belt is 231,291 hectares (571,530 acres), 1.7% of the total land area of England (2019).[2][3] Tracts of green belt lie within the West Midlands county itself, much of it by theMeriden Gap inSolihull borough; however, the vast coverage of the green belt completely envelops the county.
The green belt stretches fromStafford andTelford through toStratford-upon-Avon,Warwick, andRugby. There is a small isolated portion of green belt separatingDroitwich Spa andWorcester.[3] TheStoke-on-Trent andBurton upon Trent/Swadlincote green belts lie around 10 miles (16 km) to the north.
Due to the West Midlands green belt extending across several counties, responsibility and co-ordination lies with the many localdistrict councils whose land covers the green belt, as these are the local planning government bodies.
2.19 In Stafford Borough there are two areas of Green Belt; around the North Staffordshire conurbation and in the south eastern area of the Borough which includes Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
