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Nature and farmland equivalent in size to that of the New Forest – 604 sq km – was lost to concrete and bricks and mortar in the UK between 2018 and 2023, according to an investigation by the Guardian and European partners.
In the same period the loss of some of the most protected and special natural areas in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, known as national landscapes, reached 12 sq km; equivalent to 1,680 football pitches worth of natural land.
The exclusive analysis – the outcome of a cross-border project conducted by the Guardian, Arena+, the Norsk institutt for naturforskning (Nina), the Norwegian broadcaster NRK and nine other news outlets in 11 countries across Europe, estimated that natural areas equivalent in size to Cyprus were lost across the continent in the same period.
The UK was among the countries to lose the highest proportion of green space compared to its geographic size. It ranked fifth.
The findings underline the tensions and economic trade-off between the environmental loss of natural capital from development and the economic gains of residential and industrial development and their subsequent value to GDP.
The research used before-and-after satellite imagery shots to determine the change in land use – utilising a supervised machine learning developed by Nina. The investigation revealed the significant scale of building on beauty spots designated as areas of outstanding natural beauty, now known as national landscapes in England and Wales.
Huge tracts of national landscapes are being taken for development, the data suggests, despite restrictions on the development of these natural areas.
The Guardian verified more than 250 of the largest developments, which were more than 10,000 sq metres; developments of this size had been undertaken in six areas of national landscapes: the Chilterns, Kent Downs, North Wessex Downs, Dorset, the Cotswolds, High Weald and the Shropshire Hills.
The research suggests that special protections in such areas are being trumped by local developments – including residential, transport and commercial projects – but also by national construction projects.
One major project – the controversial HS2 train line, once seen as a vital piece of infrastructure to connect the north and south of England, which will now connect only London and Birmingham – cuts directly through the Chilterns national landscape and is clearly visible in the satellite imagery captured for the purposes of this project.
Most of the large projects highlighted by the analysis, beside HS2, that have spilled into the areas of outstanding natural beauty are housing developments, such as the northward expansion of Poundbury in Dorset, the Lancaster Park development near Hungerford in Berkshire, and a field of new houses to the north-east of Fownhope in Hereford. More still are small encroachments: barns, extensions and road widening projects.
Recent research has revealed there are enough brownfield sites in England to build almost all the 1.5m homes that the government wants to create by the end of this parliament.
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Roger Mortlock, chief executive of the countryside charity CPRE, said: “For a small island we are still struggling with the idea that land is finite. It’s shameful to be so near the top of this list when the countryside in this country is so valued – second only to the NHS.
“It is also so unnecessary when brownfield land, even with planning permission, remains unused. We should rethink our towns and cities as compact sustainable places that celebrate the countryside on their doorstep.
“Instead land-hungry, car-dependent, identikit, unaffordable housing estates without proper infrastructure are taking green fields that could deliver the food we eat, power nature’s recovery and climate solutions.”
The Guardian revealed recently the government’s new planning bill threatens 5,000 of the most protected areas in England. The bill, currently going through parliament, is considered a regression on current environmental laws, and would allow developers to pay into a central fund in order to bypass environmental regulations on a particular site.
Additional reporting by Rachel Keenan, Raphael Boyd, Olivia Lee, Yassin El-Moudden, Gracie Daw, Matthew Holmes, Mariam Amini, Gabriel Smith, Dominic Kendrick and Emma Russell
For more, visit greentogrey.eu
The next phase of this project will be planet-wide: join a crowdsourced citizen science initiative to measure global nature loss here
