The 1980s saw major changes in attitudes and policies towards the environment and in general and the countryside in particular, and the birth of "green politics". In Britain, as elsewhere, there has been an increased focus on the conservation of rural landscapes and habitats, on the diversification of agriculture, on controlling pollution and on regulating housing and other developments, for example. This book presents a comprehensive review of planning policies for the countryside in Britain, drawing principally on the literature of the 1980s, and projects these forward into the 1990s. The central issue of the book concerns the degree to which the radical policies set in train during the Thatcher era will continue or be reversed in the 1990s, and how far the underlying forces restructuring agriculture and thus the entire countryside will set an agenda for future policies.
The book is intended as an important reference work for professionals involved in rural planning, for organizations concerned with environmental issues, and for students in a range of disciplines - agriculture, forestry, rural geography, agricultural economics, environmental science, rural sociology and land planning and management.