Add your name to our Letter to England

In 2026, CPRE is celebrating 100 years of standing up for the countryside we love. Here in Lancashire, Liverpool City Region and Greater Manchester, we’re proud to be part of that story.

Together with the CPRE network across England, we’re beginning the year with a letter to our region and to England, with a message about what’s at stake for the countryside, and the future we want to shape together. We’d love for you to add your name.

Dear Lancashire, Liverpool City Region & Greater Manchester

The countryside is one of your greatest achievements. A beautiful masterpiece built by centuries of collaboration between people and nature. From moors and woodlands, to rivers, coasts, and the green spaces that bind us together, the countryside connects and sustains us all.

For a century, the Campaign to Protect Rural England has been its guardian. Despite the relentless, growing pressure on our landscapes, we’ve stood up for the countryside and helped give the people who love it a voice. That will never change.

Many of the pressures facing our green spaces and countryside today were familiar to our founders – not least the challenge of providing homes, infrastructure and prosperity on a small island. But new pressures have emerged with more catastrophic impacts on the land we love. Nature is in freefall and climate change threatens to alter our landscapes for good.

Now more than ever, decisions about how we use our land are leading to the needless loss of landscapes and everything they support. Without drastic action, much of what makes our countryside unique and beautiful will be lost.

Wherever we live, we rely on the countryside for clean air, thriving wildlife and resilience in the face of climate change. Yet these foundations are being chipped away. Too often decisions are shaped by profit, not what’s needed most – and the countryside pays the price.

We have seen needless warehousing built on green belt in St Helens and Warrington. At Finnington, near Chorley, there is a planning application to consume 1.3million square feet of green belt to build more massive warehouse sheds. Housing estates have been built all over the north west, even in the countryside and in the National Landscapes such as the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire.

Such developments provide little or no homes for singletons, including the elderly, or young families on modest incomes.

Peat moor continues to be degraded and threatened

Our centenary vision is for a countryside that’s greener, more resilient and protected for future generations.

There is a better way – one we’re calling for, and one everyone can be part of:

• Stop the loss of countryside. Let’s protect what we love and do everything we can to make sure green fields, woodlands and moors aren’t needlessly lost or degraded.
• Improve the quality of the countryside for future generations. That means thriving communities, clean rivers, healthy food and resilient landscapes rich in nature.
• Inspire more people to care for the countryside. A countryside for all where more people take action to enjoy and protect it.

Our individually distinctive northern towns and cities are surrounded by green belt and glorious countryside.  We want our shared countryside to be preserved for the health and wellbeing of all, not despoiled with warehousing, unsuitable and inappropriate housing, and out-of-town retail and leisure outlets.

We have thousands of acres of previously developed  brownfield land in the north west available for such facilities. Much is suitable too for affordable homes, because it provides good access to public transport, jobs, schools and shops.

Across  the country, people are already showing what’s possible – restoring hedgerows, rethinking development, growing sustainable food and making space for nature.

As we begin our centenary year, we’re sending this message to everyone: love your countryside and be part of its future. This is just the beginning – and we all have a part to play in shaping what comes next.

If you share this vision, join the movement today, add your name to this letter and stand with us.

Chair

Sign the letter