Campaign to Protect Rural England celebrates 25 years

Twenty-five years of campaigning to protect the Bedfordshire countryside has been celebrated in CPRE Bedfordshire’s special Silver Jubilee edition of it’s Branch Review, Bedfordshire Matters.

The county’s branch of the national charity was founded in 1987. Since then, CPRE Bedfordshire has chalked up a number of significant successes, including:

  • 1989 – successful opposition of plans to convert Sundon Pit, situated in a Green Belt area, into a huge leisure complex;
  • 1990 – prevention of plans to build a theme park at Woburn;
  • 2003 – defeat of an application to extract ‘Fuller’s Earth’ at Wavendon Heath, Woburn;
  • 2004 – preservation of Green Belt next to Flitwick Moor; and
  • 2009 – rejection of an application to build 199 homes on Green Belt near Leighton Buzzard.

CPRE is currently focused on responding to the consultation on the Central Bedfordshire Strategy which will dictate the sites for housing and employment and associated infrastructure up to 2031. CPRE is particularly concerned about the loss of Green Belt in the south.

‘We are proud of our achievements in helping to prevent inappropriate development in our most precious rural areas,’ said Ann Collett-White, CPRE Bedfordshire’s Branch Development Manager.

‘We also seek ways to encourage a greater appreciation of the countryside, and to recognise the contribution of those who work hard to protect and preserve it.’

Want to get involved?

CPRE Bedfordshire welcomes new members and volunteers. Visit their website here to find out more.

You can also download the latest Bedfordshire Matters newsletter here.