London's Green Girdle Some 85 years have elapsed since The
Spectator advo- cated measures to preserve a belt of open land within a reasonable distance of central London before continuous building should make it too late. The proposal has been repeated again and again since then, and has been exam- ined in detail by the Greater London Regional Planning Committee ; but no step was taken till Mr. Herbert Morrison this week announced the decision to ask the London County Council to co-operate with the authorities around London, and to contribute money up to £2,000,000 for the acquisition of suitable land. How urgent the matter is may be judged by the fact that of 32,000 acres available some years ago, 5,500 were found to have been built on in 1930, and of the remainder a further 3,500 acres have now been taken up. It is a case of now or never, unless the belt is to be, not 11 miles from Charing Cross, but 20 or more.
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