What will the countryside look like in 30 years?

This article was written by the Countryside Alliance's Director of Policy and Campaigns, Sarah Lee.

The Great Yorkshire Show was held last week and I was invited to join a panel in the Countryside Voices marquee to discuss the future of the countryside and what it will look like in 30 years time.

I opened by making the point that the countryside is part of our national heritage and what happens to it should matter to us all, but it will face several challenges over the next 30 years including the issue of food production versus nature recovery, how we meet our net zero requirements, and housing the nation. Navigating these challenges will require dialogue, ambition, and leadership.

This is why the countryside needs a plan, to ensure that it thrives countryside. This includes a plan for nature recovery, farming, rural economic transition and more, while empowering all concerned to make it happen. From the Countryside Alliance's perspective, several principles should underpin a vision for a healthier, greener and more prosperous countryside.

• The countryside is managed and sustained by its communities. People who live and work in the countryside must feel they are being listened to and have a part in shaping its future.
• The countryside should not be marginal to debate. We need to build a broad understanding of its core place in our collective future.
• The countryside should be for all – not just those who live and work in the countryside but our neighbours who live in the towns and cities. Love of the countryside and nature is part of our national identity.

The debate on what the countryside will look like in 30 years is central to some of the work the Countryside Alliance has been discussing for the last couple of years, and culminated in The Countryside Alliance Foundation’s second Future Countryside event in June. This spectacular event brought together people and organisations with diverse views who are united by a love of the countryside and a shared belief in the potential of rural Britain. In this election year, we wanted to ensure that political leaders gave the countryside the attention and priority it deserves. 

The Future Countryside event heard from the new Defra Secretary of State, Steve Reed, who pledged that Labour would treat the countryside with “respect” and tackle issues including housing and rural crime. Mr Reed said that Labour would devolve power to rural communities and wanted to give them their “future back”.

However, we had the new Chancellor tell us earlier last week that the government will strip powers from local people to stop them from objecting to onshore windfarms, impose compulsory house-building targets and propose to loosen green belt rules. All things that will have an impact on the countryside, and this is why open dialogue, ambition and leadership are all important for the countryside.

We have a new government and whatever policy decisions it makes, it will be laying down the foundations of what the countryside will look like in 30 years. The Countryside Alliance will be there working with the government and fighting for the countryside so that it recognises the value and potential of rural Britain and ensures it gives the countryside the attention and priority it deserves.