Reshaping Green Belts into 'green webs' can support smarter urban growth by connecting open land, water, and rail links. Urban extensions and renewal offer better housing solutions than new towns. Development corporations should assemble land and fund infrastructure through land value uplift, while a Common Wealth Fund can enhance local natural environments.

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This paper calls for using green space to add value to developments rather than limit urban expansion as Green Belts have tried to do. It questions the importance of new towns as a means of providing the housing the UK needs to build and argues for urban extensions and renewal as better methods. Development corporations, as recommended by the New Towns Taskforce, should be used to implement spatial development strategies by assembling land and commissioning local infrastructure. The resulting uplift in land values can then be used to fund infrastructure improvements and new green space. A Common Wealth Fund should complement the National Wealth Fund by supporting local initiatives that conserve and improve the natural environment around town centres and railway stations.