Video Speaker 20th May 2021 - Neil Salisbury on The Countryside Charity

Neil started his career as an Aeronautical Engineer and that broadened out into the management of technology.  For almost 30 years before he retired, he was advising large public and private sector organisations on managing their IT.  Following retirement, Neil’s interest in the British countryside, and in CPRE in particular, was kindled by a love of the books of Bill Bryson who, it turned out, was a past President of CPRE. Neil is now a Trustee of the Buckinghamshire branch of CPRE and leads on all planning matters for the branch.  Website www.cprebucks.org.uk

Neil explained that CPRE, The Countryside Charity, is the only national charity covering all aspects of the countryside and the urban environment and that by dint of the strength of its membership and research backed campaigns it has had a major impact on Government policy. Locally that influence contributed to the elimination of the controversial Chiltern and South Bucks Local Plan.

Historically, CPRE was a prime mover behind the enactment of The Town and Country Planning Act of 1947, in 1948 the National Parks and Access to Countryside Act and, importantly for the locality in which Chesham is located, the adoption of Green Belts around cities

Neil's Presentation

Buckinghamshire is one of England’s oldest counties and essentially is rural in nature, unusually it has no cities and half of the population live in villages and dispersed settlements.  However, its desirability as a place to live has declined in recent years with major infrastructure projects such as HS2 providing further threats to the environment.    CPRE’s aims include ensuring people reap the health benefits of the countryside, influencing local authorities to improve the environment, ensuring developments are sustainable whilst maintaining and improving the diversity of the landscape and wildlife.

Neil’s focus of interest is Buckinghamshire, a county of 856,000, with an expectation of growth to 1.3 million by 2050.  CPRE has identified that more than one million homes can be built on brownfield sites nationally, thereby reducing urban sprawl. Buckinghamshire has at least 201 such sites capable of being utilised.  Neil argued that CPRE not only focussed on homebuilding development but on the wider need to adopt an inclusive approach to industrial developments, the infrastructure of public utilities and the place of farming in the economy of the region.

Neil concluded by saying that CPRE would continue to campaign, promote positive themes, lobby national and local authorities and engage with the planning processes. A lively question and answer session ensued with member’s support for local green initiatives and an increased awareness of the complexities of local planning very evident.