THE Green Belt increases the value of existing property by restricting the supply of houses, offices, factories, hospitals, etc.

The beneficiaries are existing property owners who have seen enormous increases in the value of their homes while poorer, younger people can no longer afford to live in York.

When the Green Belt policy was first thought up, it was meant to provide "green lungs" of countryside for our cities polluted by dirty industries and open coal fires.

But today the countryside has become an open air factory floor with production techniques that are not very environmentally friendly. Green Belt is becoming green desert.

Many of those who live in the countryside or on the edge of town next to the Green Belt cause a great deal of pollution by driving their cars into the city.

City dwellers themselves cause rather less pollution.

Green Belt policy needs replacing by better policies that will protect the environment without the unfairness of making housing too expensive for the next generation.

Geoff Beacon,

Belle Vue Street,

York.