ABSTRACT

This chapter provides an overview of issues and factors that drove the development of first National Parks and then Country Parks, Forest Parks, Countryside Management Areas and Projects, and countryside services. Indeed, countryside management services of many urban local authorities around Great Britain evolved from urban-fringe experiments. With increasing demand for public access, leisure and recreation, overall environmental welfare, etc., the Countryside Commission introduced the "countryside management". Groundwork adopted similar principles to countryside management with the aim of encouraging countryside access through the improvement of degraded landscapes. Changes in land use associated with industrialisation and urbanisation, following the Industrial Revolution and the rise of urban society, affected agricultural production and rural landscapes. McKay and Hollett, for example, provide excellent accounts of the history of the demand for access and recreational space in Britain. The chapter concludes that it is worth reviewing the roles of countryside management teams based in local councils.