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Countryside planning yearbook
Applied Geography
161
(1983),3, 161-163
Essay review Rural research and planning
Blacksell, M. and Gilg, A. The countryside: planning and change. London: Allen and Unwin, 1981. 262 pp. Green, B. Countryside conservation. London: Allen and Unwin, 1981. 249 pp. Gilg, A. W. Countryside spanning yeu~book, Vol. 1, 1980; Vol. 2, 1981. Norwich: Geobooks. Academic interest in the rural environment, once the pursuit of only a few individualists, has recently burgeoned in the most fruitful manner such that every year now sees a healthy crop of well-researched new literature on various aspects of rural change and development. The Rural Geography study group of the Institute of British Geographers now counts as the fourth largest of that body’s specialist groups in terms of membership, whilst rural research has also been a notably interdisciplinary field involving workers with a wide range of backgrounds producing results that are often all the stronger for the cross-fertilization of viewpoints that has occurred. Notable in the development of rural area research in the 1970s has been the strong orientation towards ‘applied’ problems, particularly in the potential contribution of rural geography to rural planning (Cloke 1980). Two of the four volumes reviewed here, those by Blacksell and Gilg and by Green, form part of the new series published by Allen and Unwin entitled The Resource ~~~uge~ent Series. Bryn Green’s book on countryside conservation is a ‘state-of-theart’ address, but with a strong personal viewpoint. The countryside: piunning and change, by Mark Blacksell and Andrew Gilg, very successfully integrates a review of existing literature with a report of the results of a major survey of land-use changes and planning decisions in selected areas of Devon. Both of these books have much to recommend them and are important additions to the catalogue. Mark Blacksell and Andrew Gilg set out to examine the dynamics of change occurring in the contemporary countryside under two headings-the ‘open countryside’ of rural land use, and the ‘developed countryside’ of the rural built environment. The volume thus goes much further than Gilg’s earlier (1978) work which was more concerned with the administrative structures and controls operating in rural Britain. Blacksell and Gilg very competently summarize the scope of the various official bodies at work and also provide a brief but efficient discussion of land-use change, highlighting the important points in recent debates on this subject. These comprehensive chapters are then supplemented by the case study work in Devon on the operation of development control and on changes of land use. In these respects Devon is an admirable county for discussion, since many of the current controversies over competing interests in rural areas are being played out in that county, for example on Exmoor (recreation versus agriculture) and Dartmoor (military uses of moorland}. Blacksell and Gilg’s conclusions call for the setting up of a single agency for rural affairs to provide greater integration between the multiplicity of different bodies, individuals and organizations who at present make the decisions that affect rural areas. Such a call is not new; it has been heard increasingly in recent years, for example over the problems of rural communities and accessibility (Moseley 1979). The Countryside 0~43~22~/83/020161~3~03.00~
1983 Butterworth
& Co (Publishers)
Ltd
162
Essay w&w
Review Committee, supervised by the Department of the Environment, is a step in the right direction but only a step. Bryn Green similarly argues for a more coherent governmental policy in his book Countryside conservation, but he is pessimistic about the Iikelihood of this occurring. The days when muhiple uses of rura1 land seemed compatible have now passed and polarization of Iand is becoming more prevalent as the recreationists are herded into country parks and the open chalk downlands are ploughed up. fn this process conservation is too often the loser. Yet conservation means all things to all men and, as Green acknowledges, not all definitions are compatible with each other. Green’s concern is with ‘amenity conservation’--‘the maintenance of the natural environment for the protection of wildlife and landscape, and the provision of areas for informal recreation’ (p. 4). In practice, however, it is with ecoIogica1 aspects that Green is most concerned and thus this volume, whilst a very useful survey of that field, is not quite as broad in conception as its title might suggest. The book, nevertheless, will be especially useful to those interested in applied soil studies or applied biogeography. The final two volumes that are the subject of this review are the first two in what is promised to be an annual series of Countryside Planning Yearbooks, published with commendable swiftness by Geobooks and edited by Andrew Gilg. The conception of these volumes is almost unique. They contain a review of parliamentary questions and debates, of government statistics, press reports and studies by bodies interested in the countryside; details of government legislation affecting rural areas; annotated bibliographies of nine areas of rural research; a resume of recent conferences on rural topics; a brief review of rural research in Europe and the USA; and, finally, substantive articles on major rural issues (for example Volume 1 contains articles by Richard Muston and Alister Sutherland on the Northfield Report). The Countryside Planning Yearbooks are to be warmly welcomed; they will be essential items for all those interested in contemporary developments in rural Britain. The literature review sections are particularly useful in summarizing the huge variety of often ephemeral publications issued by county councils, voluntary bodies and ad hoc working parties, Andrew Giig’s editorial panel have obviously been enthusiastic in collating the most recent works whilst the editor himself is obviously maintaining a most efficient press cuttings system on all aspects of the countryside. This reviewer, however, has two further observations to make on the Yearbooks. Firstly, the section on Europe is confined solely to official publications concerning developments in the agricultural and structural policies of the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Community. This is an excessively narrow view of what the British rurahst can learn from the European experience, particularly from countries where the problems of settlement restructuring, of recreation provision and of conservation are so similar to our own. The second observation is a more general one and relates to the whole orientation of rural planning in Britain, The Countryside Planning Yearbooks contain no specific review section on rural social structures or on rural population studies. Howard Newby’s (1979) work, for example, is slotted in under ‘service provision’. Blacksell and Gilg, in The countryside: planning and change, certainly mention social changes and the interests of the long-standing rural residents but not as a major feature of their work. British rural planning has been overwhelmingly concerned with the visible environment? with the look of the landscape and the appearance of buildings. That concern is reflected in the orientation of the books under review here. British rural planners have had the powers to control new building but not to control who lives in existing buildings--except under ‘Section 52’ powers (Clark 1982). There is a need for the recognition of a more vital social context to rural planning, not least amongst the
Essay review
163
legislators, both local and national, who create the powers and control the funds necessary for their use. The four books reviewed here are all of considerable interest. The Countryside Planning Yearbooks are up-to-the-minute summaries of recent developments and have the interest of immediacy. The other two volumes, by Blacksell and Gilg and by Green, are longer-term reflections of recent trends and changes. All these books have pointers for the direction of future research and, above all, for future policies. Increasingly, however, the application of research findings lies with the planners and the politicians. Whether the last-named group is interested or listening remains to be seen. Clark, G. (1982) Housing policy in the Lake District. Transactions, Institute of’ British Geographers 7, 59-70. Cloke, P. (1980) New emphases for applied rural geography. Progress in Human Geography 4, 181-217. Gilg, A. W. (1978) Countryside planning: the,first three decades, 1945-76. Newton Abbot: David and Charles. Moseley, M. J. (1979) Accessibility: the rural challenge. London: Methuen. Newby, H. (1979) Green andpleasant land? Social change in rural Britain. London: Hutchinson. Paul White Department of Geography, University of Shef$eld
161
(1983),3, 161-163
Essay review Rural research and planning
Blacksell, M. and Gilg, A. The countryside: planning and change. London: Allen and Unwin, 1981. 262 pp. Green, B. Countryside conservation. London: Allen and Unwin, 1981. 249 pp. Gilg, A. W. Countryside spanning yeu~book, Vol. 1, 1980; Vol. 2, 1981. Norwich: Geobooks. Academic interest in the rural environment, once the pursuit of only a few individualists, has recently burgeoned in the most fruitful manner such that every year now sees a healthy crop of well-researched new literature on various aspects of rural change and development. The Rural Geography study group of the Institute of British Geographers now counts as the fourth largest of that body’s specialist groups in terms of membership, whilst rural research has also been a notably interdisciplinary field involving workers with a wide range of backgrounds producing results that are often all the stronger for the cross-fertilization of viewpoints that has occurred. Notable in the development of rural area research in the 1970s has been the strong orientation towards ‘applied’ problems, particularly in the potential contribution of rural geography to rural planning (Cloke 1980). Two of the four volumes reviewed here, those by Blacksell and Gilg and by Green, form part of the new series published by Allen and Unwin entitled The Resource ~~~uge~ent Series. Bryn Green’s book on countryside conservation is a ‘state-of-theart’ address, but with a strong personal viewpoint. The countryside: piunning and change, by Mark Blacksell and Andrew Gilg, very successfully integrates a review of existing literature with a report of the results of a major survey of land-use changes and planning decisions in selected areas of Devon. Both of these books have much to recommend them and are important additions to the catalogue. Mark Blacksell and Andrew Gilg set out to examine the dynamics of change occurring in the contemporary countryside under two headings-the ‘open countryside’ of rural land use, and the ‘developed countryside’ of the rural built environment. The volume thus goes much further than Gilg’s earlier (1978) work which was more concerned with the administrative structures and controls operating in rural Britain. Blacksell and Gilg very competently summarize the scope of the various official bodies at work and also provide a brief but efficient discussion of land-use change, highlighting the important points in recent debates on this subject. These comprehensive chapters are then supplemented by the case study work in Devon on the operation of development control and on changes of land use. In these respects Devon is an admirable county for discussion, since many of the current controversies over competing interests in rural areas are being played out in that county, for example on Exmoor (recreation versus agriculture) and Dartmoor (military uses of moorland}. Blacksell and Gilg’s conclusions call for the setting up of a single agency for rural affairs to provide greater integration between the multiplicity of different bodies, individuals and organizations who at present make the decisions that affect rural areas. Such a call is not new; it has been heard increasingly in recent years, for example over the problems of rural communities and accessibility (Moseley 1979). The Countryside 0~43~22~/83/020161~3~03.00~
1983 Butterworth
& Co (Publishers)
Ltd
162
Essay w&w
Review Committee, supervised by the Department of the Environment, is a step in the right direction but only a step. Bryn Green similarly argues for a more coherent governmental policy in his book Countryside conservation, but he is pessimistic about the Iikelihood of this occurring. The days when muhiple uses of rura1 land seemed compatible have now passed and polarization of Iand is becoming more prevalent as the recreationists are herded into country parks and the open chalk downlands are ploughed up. fn this process conservation is too often the loser. Yet conservation means all things to all men and, as Green acknowledges, not all definitions are compatible with each other. Green’s concern is with ‘amenity conservation’--‘the maintenance of the natural environment for the protection of wildlife and landscape, and the provision of areas for informal recreation’ (p. 4). In practice, however, it is with ecoIogica1 aspects that Green is most concerned and thus this volume, whilst a very useful survey of that field, is not quite as broad in conception as its title might suggest. The book, nevertheless, will be especially useful to those interested in applied soil studies or applied biogeography. The final two volumes that are the subject of this review are the first two in what is promised to be an annual series of Countryside Planning Yearbooks, published with commendable swiftness by Geobooks and edited by Andrew Gilg. The conception of these volumes is almost unique. They contain a review of parliamentary questions and debates, of government statistics, press reports and studies by bodies interested in the countryside; details of government legislation affecting rural areas; annotated bibliographies of nine areas of rural research; a resume of recent conferences on rural topics; a brief review of rural research in Europe and the USA; and, finally, substantive articles on major rural issues (for example Volume 1 contains articles by Richard Muston and Alister Sutherland on the Northfield Report). The Countryside Planning Yearbooks are to be warmly welcomed; they will be essential items for all those interested in contemporary developments in rural Britain. The literature review sections are particularly useful in summarizing the huge variety of often ephemeral publications issued by county councils, voluntary bodies and ad hoc working parties, Andrew Giig’s editorial panel have obviously been enthusiastic in collating the most recent works whilst the editor himself is obviously maintaining a most efficient press cuttings system on all aspects of the countryside. This reviewer, however, has two further observations to make on the Yearbooks. Firstly, the section on Europe is confined solely to official publications concerning developments in the agricultural and structural policies of the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Community. This is an excessively narrow view of what the British rurahst can learn from the European experience, particularly from countries where the problems of settlement restructuring, of recreation provision and of conservation are so similar to our own. The second observation is a more general one and relates to the whole orientation of rural planning in Britain, The Countryside Planning Yearbooks contain no specific review section on rural social structures or on rural population studies. Howard Newby’s (1979) work, for example, is slotted in under ‘service provision’. Blacksell and Gilg, in The countryside: planning and change, certainly mention social changes and the interests of the long-standing rural residents but not as a major feature of their work. British rural planning has been overwhelmingly concerned with the visible environment? with the look of the landscape and the appearance of buildings. That concern is reflected in the orientation of the books under review here. British rural planners have had the powers to control new building but not to control who lives in existing buildings--except under ‘Section 52’ powers (Clark 1982). There is a need for the recognition of a more vital social context to rural planning, not least amongst the
Essay review
163
legislators, both local and national, who create the powers and control the funds necessary for their use. The four books reviewed here are all of considerable interest. The Countryside Planning Yearbooks are up-to-the-minute summaries of recent developments and have the interest of immediacy. The other two volumes, by Blacksell and Gilg and by Green, are longer-term reflections of recent trends and changes. All these books have pointers for the direction of future research and, above all, for future policies. Increasingly, however, the application of research findings lies with the planners and the politicians. Whether the last-named group is interested or listening remains to be seen. Clark, G. (1982) Housing policy in the Lake District. Transactions, Institute of’ British Geographers 7, 59-70. Cloke, P. (1980) New emphases for applied rural geography. Progress in Human Geography 4, 181-217. Gilg, A. W. (1978) Countryside planning: the,first three decades, 1945-76. Newton Abbot: David and Charles. Moseley, M. J. (1979) Accessibility: the rural challenge. London: Methuen. Newby, H. (1979) Green andpleasant land? Social change in rural Britain. London: Hutchinson. Paul White Department of Geography, University of Shef$eld