People came from all over Luton, Bedfordshire and northern Hertfordshire in support of the Green Belt. Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) branches in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire and The Chiltern Society shared the stage with CPRE’s national chief executive Shaun Spiers, followed by contributions from a 150-strong audience.

In his talk, CPRE’s national chief executive Shaun Spiers spoke of the attack on Green Belt land across England and revealed that building on brownfield sites - previously developed land in towns and cities - could provide a million new homes.

CPRE Bedfordshire’s Mike Stonnell gave details of plans to develop Green Belt land for 13,000 new homes in Central Bedfordshire in areas north of Luton, north of Houghton Regis and east of Leighton Buzzard. Kevin Fitzgerald from CPRE Hertfordshire showed where 15,000 new homes on GB are planned for northern Hertfordshire, despite government assurances that Green Belt should be protected. The Chiltern Society's Tom Rodwell spoke of the impact of the proposed unsustainable development on the Chiltern Hills and launched their manifesto urging politicians to protect the Green Belt and develop brownfield sites.

The meeting was closed calling for people to ask local and national election candidates to support the protection of the Green Belt and prioritise development of brownfield sites, and took away a flyer to display to show support.

Two days later, CPRE launched a report "Green Belt under siege" showing that we are now seeing the highest number of homes planned for Green Belt - over 219,000 - since the launch of the flagship National Planning Policy Framework three years ago.