Pewley Cllr Richard Billington, Lead Councillor for Rural, Countryside, Parks and Leisure, says “This strategy will enable us to maintain and enhance our beautiful landscape, our natural resources and ecological value to continue providing benefits for future generations. We look forward to working in partnership with residents and organisations to improve sustainability and protect our countryside, whilst balancing this with the needs of the rural and wider economy.

“Adopting the strategy will provide the Council with the tools to inform and support landscape scale habitat, access management in partnership with other landowners and boroughs, and enable external funding.”

The new Countryside Vision approved at last night’s Executive meeting (18 April) also provides a framework to manage the Council’s countryside estate, through development of appropriate plans for sites, and a strategic direction that aligns with national and local priorities. These will support greater partnership working to build a borough and county wide countryside network.

The Council owns and manages 52 countryside sites covering an area of 800ha, which is 2.5% of the borough’s land area. We also manage approximately 32 km of rural road verges on behalf of Surrey County Council.   

For more information please see the Executive report.

Published on Wednesday 19 April.