Welcome to the web site of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, North Yorkshire

We are the North Yorkshire County branch of the CPRE, a national charity whose objective is to protect the landscapes and sustain the communities of rural England.

North Yorkshire is not only the largest English county, but was recently voted the most beautiful. The high country of the Pennine Dales and the Moors is matched by a spectacular coastline, but Yorkshire is traditionally the “county of broad acres” and we have many of those in the well-farmed vales of Mowbray, York and Pickering and the fertile Humberhead Levels in Selby District.

Our countryside enhances our quality of life by providing attractive scenery, peace and tranquility, a space for health-giving exercise, and interesting and varied wildlife. But although we talk about the natural environment (as opposed to the built environment) our countryside too is man-made - changed and moulded by generations of farmers and landowners. It will go on changing, because it is a place where people earn their living. Our goal at CPRE North Yorkshire is to ensure that it changes for the better, and we have summed up our “vision” in three sentences:

• A North Yorkshire countryside whose foundation is a prosperous rural economy in which environmentally-friendly farming and sustainable tourism are integral elements. This will ensure that village communities and market towns continue to flourish.
• A North Yorkshire countryside in which the individuality of each landscape and the buildings within it is valued, and its beauty, tranquillity and biodiversity maintained.
• A North Yorkshire countryside where the inevitable changes (many of which are required to meet the challenge of global warming) continue to be controlled by a robust planning system.

“The impact of a society that can’t say “no”, and refuses to adapt its lifestyle to the capacity of the environment, is turning protected landscapes into islands of refuge.”

Quote from Andy Wilson, Chief Executive, North York Moors National Park Authority, at a recent Cardiff Seminar