Preserving England
PARTICULAR and express inspection of the South Downs and other famous English scenes gives ic painful conviction that the Council for the Preserve- on of Rural England underrates rather than exaggerates le threat against the most characteristic charms of our ndscape. It is painfully true that not one but many .ore of the loveliest nooks of England and Wales are mg converted into Chambers of Horrors. And not only oks. Whole landscapes whose lovely features spring m a soil fathoms deep in history are suffering dis- ,urement of a barbarous nature. Is any district more plicitly English in popular thought than the South owns ? It is known and beloved all round the Empire.
Inspired Mr. Kipling to the very best of his lyrics, and Iced his short stories.
" The Weald is good, the Downs are best ; I'll give you the run of 'em East and West."
'ell, let any man, however little an aesthete or senti- entalist, take a " run of 'ern " to Rottingdean, to the lies of any or every south country spa, to Dymchurch r Langlands Bay—he will hardly recognize the Sussex f six years ago. He is no longer
In a fair ground—in a fair ground, In Sussex by the sea."
dews and not always sanitary bungalows, in single ickedness, in marauding battalions, in long lines, in nsightly groups, blotch the landscape ; and multiply, if they spawned. Sussex, of course, is not the only Olin of the new age. The people of Westmorland are wing furious over the disfigurement of the Fells. here are loud outcries in South Wales, especially in the eighbourhood of Newport. The great and potentially autiful new main road from London to Folkestone is tiering a fungus growth of loudly advertised shacks at most attractive curves, where fresh glimpses of the real ngland should unfold themselves to the view. Scarcely English county is wholly exempt, in the South or orth ; and hundreds of villages are spoiled by the ugly, )hazard " ribbon development " of bungalows. But it serve for the moment to focus the attention of iglish people on the ruin of the fair ground of Sussex.
is scarcely possible to exaggerate the rapidity of the ul change that is taking place ; and the results already re " a thing imagination boggles at." Defence must be Nanized now or never. Much more than the artillery f local forces is needed, though a most vital part of the rk depends on local effort.
Sussex is especially alive to its own danger. Recently e Sussed: Daily News estimated the cost of the necessary Jrk of saving the South Downs to be £70,000, if no prNsive or directive measures were taken by authority. The Society of Sussex Downsmen have formulated a scheme for the preservation of the Downs. They insist, quite rightly, that the local authorities must co-operate to the end of securing powers to restrict buildings to suitable areas, and to "preserve the great uplands to their present agricultural use and rural appearance." They believe that even if compensation were granted to land- owners the cost would be small. All this local effort is to the good, is most welcome ; and we are going to see activity of a new sort as well as a new energy in local councils, especially county councils and rural district councils, all over England. This is not a prophecy, but an announcement of a known fact. Regional planning schemes, wide in scope and precise in detail, are now under discussion, though even yet many local councils have not awakened to a realization of their powers. The power is to a large extent in their own hands without necessary recourse to Private Bills such as the Sussex Downsmen have suggested to the Steyning Rural District Council.
Every ounce of local effort is of value ; and the counties, if they employ their full powers, can defend themselves. But this fact increases rather than diminishes the need for a central force, which can pool knowledge, distribute information, and direct energy. Perception of this has influenced twenty-two of our most important societies to compose as " constituent bodies " the " Council for the Preservation of Rural England." It is tempting to had an omen in their very number, for twenty-two—the length of a chain or cricket pitch, the unit of the square acre— is quite the most English of all the numbers. The archi- tects, the motorists, the local councils, the landowners, and those admirable individual societies of which the Scapa is a good type arc all included. The threats are of many sorts. Historic buildings and old bridges and fine houses and cottages are destroyed. Needlessly ugly buildings are erected at the very hub of historic scenes. Hideous advertisements ruin the charm of a village street or a green meadow. The time has come when we must pre- serve and at the same time construct. The Spectator would be glad to know of any particular offence against any part of that most glorious possession of Englishmen, England itself, to the end of assisting to find a remedy. It would be a wise act for anyone who sets store by the landscape and history of " this England " to support in every way the new Council. Its address is C.P.R.E., 33 Bloomsbury Square, W.C. 1. It is backed by the two cricket teams of constituent bodies, but needs several hundred associate members if it is to be capable of exerting its full influence for the preservation of rural England.
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