England to "Bulldoze" its Green Belts

Saw this article through Planetizen, "Gordon Brown to bulldoze rural housing curbs" and it got me to wondering....

What will this mean to everything we were taught in planning school and at many of our planning conferences? I remember learning about the years of planning that has gone into the efforts in England to centralize development and protect its green belts. Strong command and control, transfer of development rights, cluster development, all with the intent that as you crossed England, you would be able to enjoy the traditional English countryside.

What will the ramifications be over here? If the central government by edict can suddenly dictate that areas previously set aside for protection from development must be opened up for new housing in one of the more preservation minded areas, what will follow where such preservation concepts have not caught on?

Why is it that goals such as we must build 3 million homes (England) or increase housing by 1% annually (Massachusetts) seen as the correct approach? Set the goal, then dictate that all barriers to achieving that goal must be removed. Do we have the land? Do we have the infrastructure? Can we provide decent schools, clean water, waste water treatment? These all are unimportant to those who see the ends as justifying the means. Why now? Why should the green belts that previous generations were denied the ability to live in, suddenly must be opened up to housing? Was not having a yard and a place for a garden not important after WWII when many of these green belts were first set aside?

I am probably more pro-development than many of my counterparts here on Cape Cod. I have been known to be very vocal about many actions viewed as anti-development. However, I do not see any value in pressing ahead with reckless agendas that promote too much development in the wrong time frame. Towns need to provide opportunities for growth no doubt. But, to say towns must provide a mechanism to ensure a hundred or a thousand new homes will be built every year from now until forever is insane. Look at the number of home builders, large and small corporations, that are failing. Look at the number of home builders, large and small, who failed in the mid-80's.

These reckless proposals that say we have to build housing to bring people to Massachusetts are forgetting what happened in the 80's when too much spec housing was constructed. We need to make Massachusetts attractive again. We need to promote activities that make young people want to live in the state. We need to promote the "1000 Great Places" idea that has been floated by the legislature. With today's world where many can work from their homes while collaborating on major research projects, we need people to realize what is great about this state, and have them want to do that collaboration from our mountains, riversides or ocean sides and not the Rockies, Myrtle Beach or the other markets we are competing with.