Our Health-Giving Green Belt

Most of Surrey falls within the London Metropolitan Green Belt, and its protected countryside is vital for the health and wellbeing of local residents and Londoners alike, writes Andy Smith of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).

- Andy Smith

FOR over six decades the London Green Belt has been crucial in preventing the great metropolis from swallowing up Surrey’s precious countryside, but it has also had, and continues to have, an equally important role in helping to maintain public health by providing a “green lung” for people living in and around England’s capital city.

In short, the closer people are to nature and open spaces, the healthier they are likely to be. For millions of Londoners, as well as those of us fortunate enough to live in leafy Surrey, the Green Belt can be “our little bit of countryside”, an escape from the pollution and the hustle and bustle of the big city. It’s where people go to jog, ride, hike, ramble or stroll, exercise their dogs, play sport or just “get away from it all”. It is a place of tranquillity, somewhere to experience the glories of nature and unwind.