Historical tradition and popular myth concerning the British countrysides have had a powerful impact on policy discourse. The countrysides of England, Scotland and Wales have been shaped not only by economic forces, but also by the values of those who believe that rural areas should be used and enjoyed in a particular way. Understanding of the countryside, as we saw in the last chapter, is moulded by a degree of retrospection: a sense of nostalgia for rural life. In this chapter, we develop the themes introduced in Chapter 2 by considering how the planning system today – and the evolution of rural policy and planning since 1947 – often expresses a particular representation of the countryside, and certain beliefs regarding the proper use of rural land. In particular, the spotlight is trained on those policy regimes, emerging after the Second World War, which shaped policy towards development in the countryside and towards rural housing. It is argued that culturally specific attitudes have expanded their boundaries, surviving beyond their time, creating a raft of difficulties for particular communities and areas. Indeed, policies from the mid-1990s promoting ‘sustainable communities’ are seen to represent an evolution of the historic antipathy towards development in rural areas.

Rural planning – the legacy

Many commentators have recognised that Britain's spatial planning systems have grown within a culture of control and restraint rather than one of enabling or facilitating development (see, for example, Rydin, 2003; Cullingworth and Nadin, 2010). Rural planning in Britain illustrates this tendency particularly well (Gallent et al, 2008). Britain's regimes have three historical axes – ‘containment’, ‘productivism’ and ‘environmental preservation’ – that together form what has now become the traditional basis of rural planning. The destination to which the journey along these axes has brought us – sustainable development – is examined at the end of this chapter. Does this provide a fresh outlook for rural planning, brushing aside nostalgia, or is sustainability merely a gloss behind which business carries on as usual?

Containment

The risk of urban growth and associated urban problems spilling into the countryside in the 19th century galvanised support around the need for ‘urban containment’: a brake on the outward spread of towns and cities.