History and Evolution
Country Parks are a lasting and popular legacy of the provisions of the Countryside Act 1968. By 1995 over 220 parks had been established attracting an estimated 30 million visitors per year. Natural England has confirmed that there are now over 400 sites that call themselves Country Parks.
More on the history and evolution of country parks appears in:
‘History of Country Parks’: (152kb)
(article in Landscape Research Vol. 31, No. 1, 43 – 62, January 2006)‘Country Parks: celebrating 40 years of a Greenspace Family Member’: (570kb)
(article in Countryside Recreation (October 2008) vol 16 No3 pages 20-23 Countryside Recreation Network)
By 1999, it was found that although many good country parks were continuing to improve, a significant number of poor parks were in decline. Action was needed to ensure that they had a better future. In the Rural White Paper (2000), the Countryside Agency (a Natural England legacy body) was tasked with 'issuing guidance on best practice to revitalise the country parks around towns and cities'.
In response, the Agency commissioned a study to:
consider how country parks have developed in the years since their inception;
gain an accurate understanding of the size and distribution of country parks;
examine the major issues facing service providers;
examine the contemporary relevance of country parks and how they might relate to current and planned initiatives.
You can view or download the full report "Towards a Country Parks Renaissance", which is split into four sections, from this page.
A key part of the renaissance work has been the establishment of the Country Parks Network
aimed at supporting those working to manage and improve country parks. The Network identified an Accreditation Scheme as the preferred mechanism to highlight and recognise sites that do actually deliver the core facilities and services expected of country parks.
Much has been achieved in delivering the recommendations within the report. Country parks now lead the green space family in their success in gaining the Green Flag Award, the nationally recognised standard of excellence in parks. They receive over 70 million visitors a year and provide a wide range of opportunities for recreation, health, education and improvements to the quality of life, particularly for local communities. They continue to be both relevant and appeal to a wide diversity of people.
