Amersham in the green belt in Buckinghamshire, ‘a hybrid of idyll and unease’ under threat from the proposed High Speed 2 railway line. Photograph: Alamy In January 1914, Aston Webb, architect of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the facade of Buckingham Palace and parts of Birmingham University, had a dream. He told the London Society, a group of architects and others concerned with the improvement of the capital, how he was transported a century forward to the year 2014, where he saw “a beautiful sylvan line practically all around London”, with “a certain amount of open spaces, pleasure grounds” set aside by “town planning schemes”. He called it a “green belt”. As futuristic fantasies go, it...
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