Home ❯ About us ❯ Who we are ❯ Our achievements and history

Our achievements and history

Men and women of various ages stand outdoors in comfortable clothes

CPRE staff enjoy a Sussex walk connecting with the countryside Lucie Rymer / CPRE

We’ve been stepping forward for the countryside for almost a century, and our work at national and local level is continuing to make an impact.

However you support us – through your time, voice or money – you’ll be joining a movement that is proud of the work we’ve done to help people live, work and play in the countryside we have today.

You might remember us as ‘The Campaign to Protect Rural England’ – our previous name, and one of several in our long history. But one thing hasn’t changed: we’re continually contributing to making sure we have a thriving and beautiful countryside that everyone can enjoy now, and in the future.

Our big successes of recent years are highlighted below and you can see a run-through of our whole history on the decades listed.

We’ve also shared our most recent annual reviews so you can see the variety of work in which we’re involved.

2023: CPRE’s impact

Read about what we’ve achieved together this year.

Discover more

CPRE's Crewenna Dymond, Anna Mathieson, Emma Marrington and Mark Robinson with the award

2022: our impact

Find out what CPRE achieved in 2022.

Discover more

CPRE staff carrying petition boards and walking towards Defra

2021: CPRE’s impact

This was a big year for CPRE. Here’s how we made a difference in 2021.

Discover more

A row of people holding banners and signs in Trafalgar Square, London

2020: CPRE’s impact

A year of challenge for all of us – but some triumphs and hope for 2021.

Discover more

A bright sunny courtyard with benches and grass with pale stone houses around

Decades of CPRE

Group of people presenting petition at No 10 Downing Street

2011 - 2020: from saving our forests to facing down fracking

A busy decade in which we led the successful push for a commitment to a deposit return scheme and as part of our work on climate change helped put a moratorium on fracking.

Bill Bryson and wombles with Stop the Drop placards

2001 – 2010: local food, night skies and the search for tranquillity

The first decade of the century saw us focus more on the experiences the countryside can give us: peace, the wonder of a clear starry sky and great local food. And we joined forces with the Wombles.

1991 – 2000: when global went local

The early 90s saw the environment go global with the Rio Earth Summit. We also saw our campaign for hedgerow protection come to fruition and our pioneering tranquillity maps published.

1981 – 1990: from energy to brownfield

Sometimes campaigns take a while: the decade saw one AONB put in place that we called for first in 1927! The eighties also saw us start to focus on sustainable energy and brownfield land use.

A train of people wearing challenge numbers on rucksacks walk along the top of white cliffs

1961 – 1980: from plastics to power

The sixties first saw CPRE concerned about the rise of plastic bottles and influence the Countryside Act, while in the seventies we started to focus on energy infrastructure.

Lone walker looking on path high above lake

1941 – 1960: from national parks to Green Belts

The aftermath of the second world war saw our aspirations for national parks finally realised and the landmark Town and Country Planning Act 1947 that has had such a big role in much of CPRE’s work.

images of 1920s postcard with St George and the dragon plus book c overs

The early years

The building boom of the mid-twenties sparked concern for the destruction of the countryside. This resulted in the first incarnation of CPRE, as the Council for the Preservation of Rural England.