'Relax the laws on green belt building'

Town planners are calling for a relaxation of laws governing building on green-belt land.

The Royal Town Planning Institute says limited development should be considered within the green belt to free up space for housing, especially in the South-East.

Although the principles of protecting these areas must be supported, the institute says the land surrounding urban areas should not be sacrosanct.

But the prospect of a loosening of the law covering the green belt - designated to prevent urban creep into the countryside - has met strong opposition from environmentalists.

The Council for the Protection of Rural England has warned that any compromise could open the floodgates to large-scale developments.

It claims that in the last four years, the majority of applications to build on the green belt have been approved by the Government. Although the Conservatives have accused the Government of " concreting over the countryside", Labour claims it has enlarged the green belt by 30,000 hectares since coming to power in 1997.