The Metropolitan Green Belt is a statutory green belt around London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, England. It includes designated parts of Greater London

Greater London

Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...

 and the surrounding counties of Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....

, Berkshire

Berkshire

Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

, Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....

, Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

, Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

 and Surrey

Surrey

Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

 in the South East

South East England

South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, designated in 1994 and adopted for statistical purposes in 1999. It consists of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex...

 and East of England

East of England

The East of England is one of the nine official regions of England. It was created in 1994 and was adopted for statistics from 1999. It includes the ceremonial counties of Essex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. Essex has the highest population in the region.Its...

 regions.

History

The Metropolitan Green Belt was the first such area of protected open land to be mooted in the United Kingdom, by the Greater London Regional Planning Committee in 1935. The Green Belt (London and Home Counties) Act 1938 permitted local authorities around London to purchase land to be protected as open space and enter into covenants with landowners that open spaces would not be given over to development. The Town and Country Planning Act 1947

Town and Country Planning Act 1947

The Town and Country Planning Act 1947 was an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom passed by the post-war Labour government...

 permitted local authorities to designate areas to be protected as part of the green belt within their development plans.

Designated area

The areas designated as the Metropolitan Green Belt in 2009 were as follows. 19 of the 32 London boroughs have green belt land and at least some part of every district in Surrey and Hertfordshire is included.

District (planning authority)	Region of England Regions of England In England, the region is the highest tier of sub-national division used by central Government. Between 1994 and 2011, the nine regions had an administrative role in the implementation of UK Government policy, and as the areas covered by elected bodies...	Geographic county Ceremonial counties of England The ceremonial counties are areas of England to which are appointed a Lord Lieutenant, and are defined by the government as counties and areas for the purposes of the Lieutenancies Act 1997 with reference to the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England and Lieutenancies Act 1997...	Area (hectares)
Aylesbury Vale	South East	Buckinghamshire	4,800
Barking and Dagenham	London	Greater London	530
Barnet	London	Greater London	2,380
Basildon	East	Essex	6,950
Bexley	London	Greater London	1,120
Bracknell Forest	South East	Berkshire	3,840
Brentwood	East	Essex	13,690
Bromley	London	Greater London	7,730
Broxbourne	East	Hertfordshire	3,330
Castle Point	East	Essex	2,750
Chelmsford	East	Essex	12,900
Chiltern	South East	Buckinghamshire	17,380
Croydon	London	Greater London	2,310
Dacorum	East	Hertfordshire	10,690
Dartford	South East	Kent	4,110
Ealing	London	Greater London	330
East Hertfordshire	East	Hertfordshire	17,530
Elmbridge	South East	Surrey	5,610
Enfield	London	Greater London	3,090
Epping Forest	East	Essex	31,680
Epsom and Ewell	South East	Surrey	1,560
Gravesham	South East	Kent	7,670
Greenwich	London	Greater London
Guildford	South East	Surrey	24,110
Haringey	London	Greater London	60
Harlow	East	Essex	640
Harrow	London	Greater London	1,090
Havering	London	Greater London	6,010
Hertsmere	East	Hertfordshire	8,040
Hillingdon	London	Greater London	4,970
Hounslow	London	Greater London	1,220
Kingston upon Thames	London	Greater London	640
Luton	East	Bedfordshire	140
Maidstone	South East	Kent	530
Medway	South East	Kent	1,340
Mid Bedfordshire	East	Bedfordshire	9,490
Mid Sussex	South East	West Sussex	20
Mole Valley	South East	Surrey	19,650
Newham	London	Greater London	80
North Hertfordshire	East	Hertfordshire	14,250
Redbridge	London	Greater London	2,060
Reigate and Banstead	South East	Surrey	8,890
Richmond upon Thames	London	Greater London	140
Rochford	East	Essex	12,760
Runnymede	South East	Surrey	6,140
Sevenoaks	South East	Kent	34,400
Slough	South East	Berkshire	830
South Bedfordshire	East	Bedfordshire	18,720
South Bucks	South East	Buckinghamshire	12,350
Southend-on-Sea	East	Essex	610
Spelthorne	South East	Surrey	3,320
St Albans	East	Hertfordshire	13,140
Stevenage	East	Hertfordshire	260
Surrey Heath	South East	Surrey	4,190
Sutton	London	Greater London	620
Tandridge	South East	Surrey	23,300
Three Rivers	East	Hertfordshire	6,840
Thurrock	East	Essex	11,980
Tonbridge and Malling	South East	Kent	17,060
Tunbridge Wells	South East	Kent	7,130
Uttlesford	East	Essex	3,810
Waltham Forest	London	Greater London	840
Watford	East	Hertfordshire	410
Waverley	South East	Surrey	21,150
Welwyn Hatfield	East	Hertfordshire	10,250
Windsor and Maidenhead	South East	Berkshire	16,480
Woking	South East	Surrey	4,020
Wokingham	South East	Berkshire	2,900
Wycombe	South East	Buckinghamshire	15,630
TOTAL			514,495