A countryside charity has called for decisions on planning applications on green belt land in Hertfordshire to be suspended.

CPRE Hertfordshire says this would allow time for the Government to clarify in its Planning Bill how it "intends to deliver on its promise" not to build in the green belt.

Last summer, the charity estimated more than 50,000 homes were being proposed to be built on the green belt in Hertfordshire as seven councils in the county work on Local Plans to meet Government housing targets.

But the CPRE says these local plans are being developed against a "backdrop of uncertainty" about the planning system.

Chief executive of CPRE Hertfordshire Martin Varco said: "The Government has repeatedly pledged to protect the Green Belt and yet at the same time local authorities and planning inspectors are operating

under guidance to deliver unfeasibly high housing targets at the cost of the countryside."

One council appears to have gone against the grain after the Conservative leader of Hertsmere Borough Council Morris Bright announced suddenly on January 26 his council's draft local plan had been "shelved" after a public consultation showed residents had "clearly rejected" its contents.

The council is expected to go back to the drawing board to deliver a new draft local plan but Cllr Bright admits the council is now unlikely to meet a Government deadline of 2023.

However, CPRE say Hertsmere's decision "underlines the level of concern many residents have about the continued erosion of the countryside".

Mr Varco says his charity wants an "immediate moratorium" on planning permission in the Hertfordshire green belt, as well as on site allocations on the green belt in local plans.

CPRE Hertfordshire says it has written to all of Hertfordshire MP's, council leaders, and councillors who lead on planning calling on them to support the suspension.

Mr Varco added: "Our countryside is a finite resource and once it is lost to development it is lost for ever. Local plans should play a central role in protecting the countryside from unwanted development.

"It is therefore critical local authorities take the correct next steps in preparing their local plans.

"However, we are calling on all local authorities across Hertfordshire to cease all approvals for large scale developments in the green belt and other designated protected areas, until the Government clarifies in the planning bill how it intends to deliver on its promise not to build on the green belt."