The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has celebrated the 50th anniversary of the greenbelt policy with the publication of a MORI poll showing that 84% of people are against building on protected land. The CPRE’s head of planning Henry Oliver said the greenbelt was under threat “as never before” because of the government’s plans for housing growth. But HBF chief executive Rob Ashmead stressed the government's careful planning for greenbelt protection and its impact on the ability of the housebuilding industry to meet demand. He said: “We should recognise that one consequence of the greenbelt policy is that many British people live at higher densities than our European counterparts. Only 8% of land in Britain is urban, half that of Denmark, Belgium or the Netherlands." He added: “Most people are not opposed to the sensible development of the greenbelt. An HBF YouGov Poll in 2004 showed that 65% of people agree that new homes should be built on greenfield sites if they are needed locally, no brownfield sites are available, and care is taken to preserve the environment as far as possible. Increased housebuilding is not about concreting over the countryside. Even Kate Barker’s most ambitious scenario of 120,000 …