Our Letter to Gloucestershire

Dear Gloucestershire,

The countryside is your greatest achievement. A beautiful masterpiece built by centuries of collaboration between people and nature. From meadows and woodlands to rivers, coasts, and the green spaces that bind us together, the countryside connects and sustains us all.

For a century, the Campaign to Protect Rural England has been its guardian. Despite the relentless, growing pressure on our landscapes, we’ve stood up for the countryside and helped give the people who love it a voice. That will never change.

Many of the pressures facing our countryside today were familiar to our founders – not least the challenge of providing homes, infrastructure and prosperity on a small island. But new pressures have emerged with more catastrophic impacts on the land we love. Nature is in freefall and climate change threatens to alter our landscapes for good.

Now more than ever, decisions about how we use our land are leading to the needless loss of landscapes and everything they support. Without drastic action, much of what makes our countryside unique and beautiful will be lost.

Wherever we live, we rely on the countryside for clean air, home grown food, thriving wildlife and resilience in the face of climate change. Yet these foundations are being chipped away.

Too often decisions are shaped by profit, not what’s needed most – and the countryside pays the price.

Here in Gloucestershire, we are already witnessing devastating and irreversible losses to our countryside. Productive farmland is being replaced by large solar farm developments that could have been sited on rooftops, commercial buildings, or car parks – yet fields around communities from the Severn Vale to the Cotswolds are disappearing. Our work has already helped stop damaging proposals on the Arlingham Peninsula and at Epney, but the pressure continues to grow.

Housing development is putting valued open spaces at risk across the county – from Dumbleton and Churcham to Tetbury and Moreton-in-Marsh, while parts of the Cotswolds National Landscape are facing over-allocation, often exceeding local plans and offering too few genuinely affordable homes.

Amid these accelerating changes, nature, flood protection, and the open landscapes that connect communities to their countryside are steadily being eroded; from the rolling hills of the North Cotswolds to the river valleys of the Forest of Dean and the Severn Vale.

Our centenary vision is for a countryside that’s greener, more resilient and protected for future generations. There is a better way – one we’re calling for, and one everyone can be part of:

• Stop the loss of countryside. Let’s protect what we love and do everything we can to make sure green fields and woodlands aren’t needlessly lost. We will continue to review and scrutinise local planning applications, shape key environmental policies, campaign with local MPs and authorities, provide expert land-use planning training for Gloucestershire’s Parish and Town Councils, and investigate brownfield sites so that development is prioritised on previously used land rather than our finite green spaces.
• Improve the quality of the countryside for future generations. That means thriving communities, clean rivers, healthy food and resilient landscapes rich in nature. Building on the 5.6km of hedgerows we have already planted and protected, we will continue this work across Gloucestershire to support flood resilience and wildlife habitats, safeguard green spaces and local initiatives, and take practical action to enhance and celebrate our rural environment.
• Inspire more people to care for the countryside. A countryside for all where more people take action to enjoy and protect it. We will continue to celebrate local projects through our established Awards scheme; highlighting initiatives from forward-thinking rewilding schemes to affordable, environmentally considerate housing developments. We will also create walking routes and work with community groups and partners, engaging communities and connecting people with our beloved countryside.

Across the country, people are already showing what’s possible – restoring hedgerows, rethinking development and sustainable farming, and making space for nature.

As we begin our centenary year, we’re sending this message to everyone: love your countryside and be part of its future. This is just the beginning – and we all have a part to play in shaping what comes next.

If you share this vision, join the movement today, add your name to this letter and stand with us.