2026 – Our Centenary

The Council for the Preservation of Rural England (CPRE) was founded on 7 December 2026 by Patrick Abercrombie and Guy Dawber, bringing together two dozen leading organisations with an interest in the countryside, heritage and rural affairs. Their clear purpose was to create a planning and protection regime – where none existed – for the huge expanse of Rural England.

Over the next 30 years, they devised and won legislation for the democratic Planning regime we rely on today, plus protections for the countryside including National Parks, Green Belts, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (now National Landscapes), Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Nature Reserves and Listed Buildings.

They went on to devise laws to restrict roadside advertising and ribbon development, to ban pylons in sensitive landscapes, restrict conifer forestation, restrict and recycle plastic waste, protect hedgerows, end stubble-burning and ensure that the public was guaranteed access to the planning process.