NALT Full

Areas around villages, towns or cities in which development is strictly controlled and usually not permitted at all. A useful device for preventing the endless sprawl of towns or the coagulation of one town with another, providing townspeople with a welcome release from the strain of city life, and protecting the special character of some towns. The main deficiency of green belt preservation is that it encourages the leap-frogging of development over the green belt to the land beyond it.