Report: The Role of Institutions in Countryside ManagementAuthor(s): Patrick HartSource: Area, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Mar., 1988), p. 52Published by: The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20002537 .

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52 Conference report

The role of institutions in countryside management

Report of a meeting of the Rural Geography Study Group held at the Ripon Campus of the College of Ripon and York Stjohnfrom 2-4 September 1987

As one of the less accessible centres of higher education, Ripon provided an appropriate location for this gathering of rural geographers. Despite a disappointing turn-out of just fifteen partici pants, the meeting stimulated fruitful discussion on a topic of growing research interest. The interplay of different institutions involved in countryside management was illustrated by two field visits.

In the opening evening session Jim Wrathall (Huddersfield Polytechnic) reviewed the role of the Development Commission in stimulating deprived rural zones and, in a change to the published programme, Nigel Walford (ESRC Data Archive, Essex University) outlined the growing availability of information from the Rural Areas Database.

On the Thursday morning the emphasis was on conservation. The first two papers dealt with amenity aspects. John Sellgren (LSE) presented results from research into the policies of local planning authorities in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB and Chris Bull (Bedford College of HE) outlined the changing role of County Nature Conservation Trusts in countryside manage ment. After coffee three papers dealt with aspects of nature conservation. Andrew Deadman (Nature Conservancy Council) described the work of the NCC in wildlife habitat management and the final contributors reported the results of research conducted in the North York Moors

National Park; Sarah Gardner (Biology, York University) on moorland management and the conservation of bird and insect communities; and Margaret Atherden (College of Ripon and York St John) on the potential for management of roadside habitats.

The first field visit, to the Nidd Gorge Countryside Management Project, was led by Paul Burgess (Harrogate Borough Council). The group was joined by representatives from the Countryside Commission, the NFU, the Woodland Trust and local residents' and naturalists' groups. This illustrated the project approach pioneered by the Commission with its emphasis on bringing together all the groups with an interest in the area to work towards a common

management plan. As an introduction to the final day's excursion Roy Brown (North York Moors National Park)

gave a very full account of the functions and methods of the Park Authority. This was further illustrated in the field with additional contributions from representatives of the National Trust and the Forestry Commission.

The meeting served to underline the large number of organisations which have an input to countryside management. In many situations there is a lack of coordination of their activities, which can lead to conflict and result in the policy of one body counteracting those of others. As yet the interest of rural geographers in this issue has been largely empirical, focusing on indi vidual groups or situations. It is hoped that a broader perspective may be stimulated by this meeting, the proceedings of which will be published in early 1988.

Patrick Hart College of Ripon & York St John

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