ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the roles and issues of countryside management writ broad across the landscape and delivery in whole or part by local authority countryside services or partnerships. The partnership most frequently mentioned in the 2006 questionnaire was delivering countryside management functions with local volunteer groups. Countryside management was in part to satisfy burgeoning demands for rural recreation by an increasingly affluent and leisured urban community. There was strong use of Friends groups and good linkage with heritage, wildlife, and culture tourism in the case studies, but it is uncertain how many other countryside management services departments have such strong links. Several comments from respondents suggested that the profile of countryside management services amongst elected council members could be, and deserves to be, better than it was. The Discussion Forum stated that the countryside management profession needed to consider these changes and rethink delivery.
