Success or Failure: what was the point of the Country Parks?

Funding for Country Parks from the Countryside Commission was enabled by the Countryside Act of 1967, and gave employment to many landscape forms. Their purpose was to enable extensive countryside recreation, preferably reachable by public transport, to relieve the pressure of car-borne visits to the national parks. As it transpired, the local authorities failed to ensure adequate funding and so most country parks spiralled into decline. Meanwhile the National Trust sought and seeks visitors and has effectively captured the market that was foreseen for the country parks, but in an unplanned and traffic-generating way. A double disaster, or just inevitable? 

Dr David Jacques is a landscape planner, garden historian and conservationist. He was the Inspector of Historic Parks and Gardens at English Heritage at the time of the Great Storm of 1987, and more recently has undertaken several missions for ICOMOS advising UNESCO on world heritage nominations. He is the author of several books, the latest being Landscape Appreciation: Theories since the Cultural Turn (2019).

All welcome- this seminar is free to attend but booking is required.