Taylor Vinters - Solicitors

Current greenbelt regulations may need to be relaxed to support carefully planned housing expansion, a study led by Cambridge University suggests.

Bringing together five universities in total, the Solutions research finds that high density urban housing projects may lead to social and economic problems emerging further down the line.

With a growing population and demand for housing increasing, the report resultantly states that towns and cities both in the south-east and across the UK may need to be expanded to support public demand.

However, this could mean that green belt regulations need to be softened in certain regions in order to allow companies to develop attractive and affordable properties.

The Solutions study was set up in 2004 under the leadership of Cambridge University's Professor Marcial Echenique to look at how sustainable suburbs could be produced in fast developing regions of the UK, notably in counties neighbouring London.

Greenbelt sites are areas of land that normally see development plans resisted to avoid urban expansion.

Amy Richardson, head of planning at Taylor Vinters, commented: "There is a huge demand to deliver houses where people want to live. Concentrating new development around existing popular towns and cities makes some sense, but should it come at the cost of loss of greenbelt?

"Realistically, it is only a matter of time before additional swathes of greenbelt is released to facilitate development.

"However, work must be done to ensure that only the minimum amount is released, and that the development is sensitively designed to retain some of the countryside characteristics so that the impact can be minimised."