ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an overview of the Parliamentary Committee work leading to the enabling legislation for designating national parks. It provides information on the highly contentious re-emergence of demands for open access in the 1990s, and with the debate surrounding the fundamental nature of private property and the comparative weight to be given to private and public rights in the land. In 1945, Sir Norman Birkett, Chairman of Council for the Preservation of Rural England's Standing Committee on National Parks and President of the Friends of the Lake District, gave the Rede Lecture at Cambridge University. They and the Dower Report formed the basis for The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act of 1949. This enabling legislation made provision for the future designation of national parks in England and Wales and for access agreements and orders on the types of land recommended by the Hobhouse Committee.
