§ Lord Coleraineasked Her Majesty's Government:
What steps they have taken to protect and enhance the countryside in England.
§ The Minister of State, Department of the Environment (Baroness Blatch)The Government today launched their initiativeAction for the Countryside, which reviews countryside policies, looks at the changes under way and sets out new initiatives for the future.
The new initiatives concentrate on action to maintain a prosperous economy and thriving communities in the countryside, to protect and enhance the landscape, to provide for public enjoyment of the countryside and to protect and conserve wildlife. They are not put forward in isolation. The initiatives described here carry forward the principles of This Common Inheritance (Cmd 1200) and are complementary to policies already in hand. They demonstrate the importance that the Government attach to integrating development to sustain rural communities with the conservation of the countryside.
The Government remain committed to keeping their policies in the countryside under review and will take further action when and where necessary to secure the delivery of their objectives.
I am arranging for copies of Action for the Countryside to be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.