A charity dedicated to protecting the countryside and green spaces is calling for a halt to planning permission being granted for any major development on Green Belt land in Hertfordshire.

CPRE Hertfordshire - previously known as Campaign to Protect Rural England - is calling for an immediate moratorium to temporarily stop the green light being given to developments on protected land in the county, including Green Belt.

Seven of Hertfordshire's 10 districts, including North Hertfordshire, are finalising their Local Plans, which will provide frameworks to help decide on planning applications, and which will determine the future pattern of development within a borough.

Three of the county's local authorities, including Stevenage, have already adopted up-to-date Local Plans, with North Herts potentially joining them ahead of the December 2023 deadline.

However, a spokesman for CPRE Hertfordshire says the Local Plans are being developed "against a backdrop of uncertainty about the planning system".

He said: "The uncertainty stems from the anticipation of a new Planning Bill and revisions of the National Planning Policy Framework, due later this year.

"Over the past months, there have been numerous statements by the Government pledging not to build on the Green Belt.

"Given the importance of the countryside to local communities, and the important role they play in helping to address the climate emergency, we are calling for an immediate moratorium on the granting of permission for all major development proposals, whether as planning applications or site allocations in Local Plans, in designated protected areas, including Green Belt."

The charity says it has written to all Hertfordshire's MPs, council leaders and planning portfolio leads, calling on them to support this moratorium.

CPRE Hertfordshire's spokesman said: "The moratorium would allow time for the Government to clarify in the Planning Bill how it intends to deliver on its promise not to build on the Green Belt.

"It would also remove, for the time being, the threat from damaging unplanned and speculative developments on protected open countryside.

"Longer-term solutions need to be found to prevent the constant erosion of the countryside."