David Cameron’s Vision For The Future Of The Countryside

09.05.08

The Leader of the Opposition, Rt Hon David Cameron MP, will outline his views on the future of the countryside in a major speech hosted by the Campaign to Protect Rural England [1] on Monday 12 May.

The speech comes as CPRE debates its own vision for the countryside in 2026 [2], which will be the organisation’s centenary year. Founded in 1926 in response to the scourge of urban sprawl and ribbon development, CPRE continues to fight for sustainable development which safeguards the countryside and improves the urban environment.

CPRE’s Chief Executive, Shaun Spiers, will set the scene for the speech, which will be followed by a question and answer session, with contributions from Elinor Goodman, former political journalist and member of the Commission for Rural Communities, and Michael Coupe, former Head of Planning at English Heritage and member of CPRE’s Policy Committee. The Rt Hon Oliver Letwin MP, Chairman of the Conservative Party Policy Review, will respond.

Shaun Spiers commented:

‘The countryside faces an uncertain future. Climate change, population growth, housing expansion, and demands for new transport and energy infrastructure, as well as acute pressure on farming and rural communities, all add up to a major agenda for change.

‘How can we make better use of our scarce land resource? Who and what is the countryside for? How can we develop sustainable rural communities? These are the some of the questions we are considering following the launch of our debate on the future of the countryside last year with a major speech by David Miliband when he was Secretary of State for the Environment. [3]

‘We look forward to hearing what David Cameron has to say on these issues so that we can continue to build a new consensus on the kind of countryside we would like to hand on to future generations.’

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. CPRE, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, is a charity which promotes the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England. We advocate positive solutions for the long-term future of the countryside. Founded in 1926, we have 60,000 supporters and a branch in every county. President: Bill Bryson. Patron: Her Majesty The Queen. www.cpre.org.uk

2. CPRE published a discussion pamphlet 20:26 Vision: What future for the countryside? on 26 February 2008. This contains a provocative paper Towards a vision for the countryside which set out one possible future to stimulate debate within CPRE and with the public. At the same time we launched an online forum to debate the issues – go to www.cpre.org.uk/debates to take part.

3. The 20:26 Vision pamphlet – see above – also reproduced the speech by David Miliband MP, entitled A Land Fit for the Future – http://cpredebates.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/2026-vision-what-future-for-the-countryside.pdf (also available by following the links from www.cpre.org.uk/debates)

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