Genuinely Sustainability Depends on Sound Economic Activity – Says CLA
A sustainable environment and successful rural communities flow from viable economic activity – that's the message from the CLA, the rural economy experts, in response to today's publication of the CPRE report on its visions for the future of the countryside.
CLA Director General, Adrian Gane, said today that the concept of rural sustainability was based on the three legs of economic, environment and social sustainability – but that without a strong, economic heartbeat, the countryside would wither and die.
"We agree that the English countryside is a key national asset which is vital to the success of our tourist industry, important for leisure activity, a significant contributor to health and well being,as well as producing the bulk of the nation's food. Where we differ from the CPRE is that we believe that it must first and foremost be a living and working countryside – we have to recognise that our rural environment is a managed environment, shaped by human activity.
Mr. Gane was responding to the CPRE's challenge to set out a vision of the countryside for the next 20-50 years – and although there needed to be an understanding that land management would change, he said it would be naive to overlook the importance of food security within that vision.
"We're not talking about self sufficiency for the UK , our point is that you cannot walk away from the issue of global food security – the ability of the world to feed itself – and, at the same time, start thinking about allowing parts of our countryside to revert to scrub and wilderness."
"Whether it is the peak district, the southern chalk downland or the rolling hills of the West Country, these are all treasured landscapes - but they are also all managed landscapes which, without positive management, would change beyond recognition. We have to ask who is best placed to manage the future of our rural environment? The answer, surely, comes back loud and clear that it the owners and managers of the land whose skills and commitment have cared for it so well until now."
The CLA, said Mr. Gane, was also concerned at the focus of economic development and housing on urban areas. There appeared, he said, to be a vision where the only economic activity allowed in the countryside should be based on low income industries such as crafts or tourism and that the case for increases in rural housing had long since been lost.
"If we focus development on urban areas, we sacrifice the social viability of our rural communities. The countryside should not be considered a sterile and unchanging visitor attraction. There needs to be housing and well paid employment for young people. Our vision is of a dynamic, evolving countryside where communities, enterprise and land management move forward in balance.
"Yes, we have to meet the challenges of climate change - and that may mean a different approach to how we use some of our land - but we believe that the fundamental underlying use of land should continue to be to grow fuel, food and the materials we need for energy and homes," he said.
