Editing Worcester, England (section)

===Green belt===
{{further|West Midlands Green Belt}}
Worcester is in a regional [[Green belt (United Kingdom)|green belt]] that extends into the surrounding counties. It is set to reduce [[urban sprawl]] between the cities and towns in the nearby West Midlands conurbations centred round [[West Midlands conurbation|Birmingham]] and [[Coventry and Bedworth Urban Area|Coventry]], to discourage further convergence, protect the identity of outlying communities, encourage [[brownfield]] reuse, and preserve nearby [[countryside]]. This is done by restricting inappropriate development within the designated areas and imposing strict conditions on permitted building.<ref>{{Cite web |title=SWJCS GREEN BELT REVIEW July 2010 |url=http://www.swdevelopmentplan.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Green_Belt_Review_29July2010.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180303105641/http://www.swdevelopmentplan.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Green_Belt_Review_29July2010.pdf |archive-date=3 March 2018 |access-date=2 March 2018 |website=Swdevelopmentplan.org}}</ref>

Within the city boundary, there is a small area of green belt north of the Worcester and Birmingham canal and of the Perdiswell and Northwick suburbs. This is part of a larger isolated tract south of the main green belt that extends into the adjacent Wychavon district, minimising urban sprawl between Fernhill Heath and Droitwich Spa, and keeping them separate. The green belt was first drawn up under [[Worcestershire County Council]] in 1975; the size within the borough in 2017 amounted to some {{cvt|240|ha|km2+sqmi}}.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Green belt statistics |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/green-belt-statistics |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703133634/https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/green-belt-statistics |archive-date=3 July 2018 |access-date=2 March 2018 |website=Gov.uk |language=en}}</ref>