Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
to find them downgraded or removed through the ministerial assessment of the plans. In
fact, Harrison (1991:32) argued that
public authorities adopted a standards approach to provision that was a
legacy of the inter-war period with its heavy emphasis on organised sport
rather than on a wider range of individual and family pursuits. Moreover,
while these standards were based on the number of active members of the
population who might be expected to participate…even the minimum
standard of provision of 2.4 hectares per 1000 head of population could
not be met in inner cities.
As a result, the urban fringe and its green belt was seen as the likely location for
provision. At a policy level it is interesting to note that in the late 1960s both the
Countryside Commission and local authorities used green belts as a mechanism to reduce
standards of provision in the inner city (for more discussion of the politics of green belt
land and recreational use, see Harrison 1991). Even so, Harrison (1980-1) found that the
carrying capacity of many sites could be improved through better resource management,
with the Greater London Council (1975) study of London's green belt indicating that
organised activities constituted half of the trips to the green belt for recreation. In spatial
terms, approved green belts now comprise 3,824,000 acres or 12 per cent of the land of
England and it is expected to continue to grow as more cities use this mechanism for
urban containment. For example, Elson (1993) reports that the designation of twelve
community forests in the UK of between 8000 and 20,000 ha will add environmental
improvements and resources for the urban fringe. One notable development which
predates much of the early research on the urban fringe is the Countryside Commission's
(1974) involvement in the establishment of Country Parks in the urban fringe, following
on from a UK government Rural White Paper on
Leisure and the Countryside
in 1966.
INSIGHT: Country parks as a spatial recreational tool: intercepting urban
recreationalists seeking the countryside
The Countryside Commission viewed Country Parks as an area of '25 acres in extent,
with basic facilities, for the public to enjoy informal open air recreation' (Harrison
1991:95). Between 1969 and 1993 the Countryside Commission spent £16 million
developing these resources, establishing a network of 206 country parks and 239 picnic
sites. After 1993, the Countryside Commission capital works grants were cut and this
marked the end of the development of these type of capital intensive projects in and
around urban areas. However, their significance cannot be under-estimated as in 2003, it
was estimated that they attracted 57 million visits a year. While a number of studies
account for the evolution of Country Park policy (Zetter 1971; Slee 1982; Groome and
Tarrant 1984), it is clear that the researchers point to the absence of research which
indicates whether park provision provides the experiences recreationalists require.
Despite growing provision of Country Parks in the 1970s, disparities existed in their
spatial distribution, with large conurbations having only limited provision (Ferguson and
Munton 1979).
Thus spatial inequalities in supply simply reinforced existing patterns of provision
