UK: Blair sacrifices greenbelt to BP and other speculators

From British daily The Guardian:

The Queen, British Aerospace [now known as BAE Systems] and BP will make billions of pounds from developing the greenbelt under proposals to meet government housing targets.

Research by the Guardian and the Campaign to Protect Rural England shows at least 10,000 acres of greenbelt land are likely to be sacrificed to build some of the biggest developments in Britain in the past 30 years.

In addition, speculators have bought large areas of greenbelt land, which protects the countryside from urban sprawl, in expectation that the forthcoming government white paper on planning will relax rural protection rules.