Please support our countryside

NORTHUMBERLAND and Durham’s coast and countryside is the treasure that surrounds us - a wonderful shared resource for all, whatever our background or place in society and for generations now, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), the countryside charity, has worked to preserve it.

With the General Election fast approaching, now is the time to ask those who aspire to be our future Members of Parliament what they will do to support and promote a beautiful and thriving countryside, accessible for everyone to value and enjoy.

Our countryside is a local treasure and a shared resource for all, irrespective of ownership, ability or background and it has repeatedly been shown to provide a wide range of social, environmental and health

benefits. CPRE North East wants to see beautiful countryside that is accessible to all, where the voices of residents are heard in local decision-making, and the needs of communities are met.

For this reason, I am supporting the manifesto produced by CPRE and I am writing to my local prospective parliamentary candidates calling on them to do the same.

The manifesto has a broad range of recommendations that we want to see all political parties adopt to ensure our countryside can thrive.

These include tackling the climate emergency through more energy-efficient homes, creating a people-led planning system and ensuring rural communities can thrive by investing in public transport and social housing.

You can read CPRE’s General Election manifesto, and urge candidates to support it, by visiting www.cpre.org.uk/ manifesto

RICHARD COWEN, Chair of CPRE North East, the

countryside charity