PERHAPS the biggest single factor in the loss of Green Belt land after the destruction of eco systems is that food cannot be produced on it.

The building on farmland has many implications. Often in these building frenzies land becomes fragmented and while in the short term land owners benefit from sale of land, the tented farmer may find that the land he has left to cultivate becomes unviable. These are serious problems both for the farmer and the country as a whole.

As land becomes unviable it becomes open to speculators and builders and these are the problems we are now seeing and will see more of in the future unless we make laws to change it. This is one of the arguments we should be using in our attempt to save Green Land.

Many of our farmhouses date back to the enclosure act of 1760 and are some of Britain’s oldest buildings. At this time many of our hawthorn hedgerows started to be planted, separating the land into the patch work of fields we see today. Hawthorn is the living home of some 300 different insect species.

The question one is forced to ask is, once this Green Land is built on, and every other town and city in the country does likewise, where are, we going to build for the next generation.

Bolton’s population is likely to hit 300,000 in the next couple of years, and unless we start to build houses which take up less space like terraces, Bolton housing need will never be met. Digging up the lungs of the nation has to be of concern to us all.

Peter German

Highfield Road

Farnworth.