ABSTRACT
This book has explored five principal propositions relating to the formulation of recreation and access policies, principally in Britain:
1. that the fragmented nature of the organizational structure for countryside recreation has inhibited the development and implementation of comprehensive policies and plans;
2. that the provision of countryside recreation, access facilities and opportunities has exhibited a confusion between the responsibilities and functions of the public sector and those of the market place and has been piecemeal and unco-ordinated as a result;
3. that policies and plans have not paid full regard to the social composition of recreation participation and have not fully taken into account people’s preferences for recreation and access in the countryside;
4. that policy has generally been preoccupied with fears of a recreation explosion and the rights of the landowner, rather than the development of recreation opportunities and has been unduly restrictive as a result;
5. that policies for recreation and access have had an unduly low priority in pressures for change in the countryside, particularly in relation to those in the conservation interest.
