The proposed identification of Strategic Buffers to provide enhanced protection to certain sites in addition to the allocation of land as Green Belt serves no planning purpose and is therefore considered unnecessary. More specifically, the objective of Strategic Buffers is to maintain the strategic settlement pattern of the area and prevent the coalescence of settlements - an objective that is replicated by two of the 'Purposes of including land in Green Belt', which are identified at Paragraph 1.5 of the PPG2: Green Belt (1995):

• to check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas;
• to prevent neighbouring towns from merging into one another.

Accordingly, there is no requirement to introduce another tier of protection to land already identified as Green Belt, given that the areas proposed to be identified as Strategic Buffers are subject to a continued application of Green Belt policy and are no more at risk from development than other sites within the Green Belt. The net result of the proposal would be to undermine the level of protection afforded to land by the Green Belt designation.

The Council's Preferred Option also fails to justify why the various Strategic Buffers identified require enhanced protection.

The issue of Strategic Buffers was a matter raised at the Issues and Options Stage, however, given that the Council has failed to provide any sufficient justification for their proposed imposition, the representation is repeated at this stage