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Celebrating our centenary

Love Your Countryside

2026 marks 100 years of CPRE standing up for the countryside. Our centenary is more than a celebration, it’s a call to action.

It’s an invitation to Love Your Countryside: to protect what matters, regenerate what’s been lost and connect to the places that sustain us all.

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Across 2026 we’re marking our centenary with events, stories and actions that celebrate our legacy and look to the future.

Letter to England

The opening act of our centenary year — a collective call to stand up for the countryside and add your name in support of what matters.

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Countryside poll

New poll conducted by More in Common for CPRE, exploring how people feel about the countryside today and their priorities for the future.

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Future Rural book

A collection of essays reimagining how land, food, nature and community could evolve over the next century.

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RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Our On the Edge garden showcases nature’s resilience in the overlooked ‘edgelands’ where towns and countryside meet.

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Love Your Countryside

A month-long celebration in September inviting people to connect with the countryside and take local action.

National awards

Celebrating the people and projects pioneering new ways to care for land, nature and communities.

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100 years of standing up for the countryside

For a century, CPRE has helped shape the countryside we know today – from campaigning for the first Green Belts and National Parks to protecting hedgerows and dark skies, and stopping fracking.
View the timeline

1926

CPRE is founded as the Council for the Preservation of Rural England, uniting groups like the National Trust, Women’s Institutes and the Commons Preservation Society to protect our countryside.

1935

CPRE launches a national countryside warden scheme with the Scouts and Guides to promote responsible behaviour — laying the foundations for what became the Country Code.

1949

After CPRE’s 20-year campaign, National Parks are established to conserve and enhance their natural beauty and provide recreational opportunities for the public.

1955

A government circular, in response to CPRE pressure, accepts the need for strongly protected Green Belts around England’s largest towns and cities.

1963

A long CPRE campaign succeeds in convincing the Government that England’s coastline needs protection as much as our inland countryside.

1970

We launch a hedgerow campaign after research shows the UK loses 10,000 miles a year. Laws to protect our best hedgerows come into force in 1997.

1981

CPRE saves Halvergate Marshes from arable land conversion, leading to the Environmentally Sensitive Areas Scheme, which supports wildlife and landscape-friendly farming.

1996

Our report finds over 6 billion bottles are produced each year, with rising numbers of non-returnable plastic ones — worsening the litter problem.

2000

CPRE campaigning shifts housing policy from low-density sprawl to prioritising brownfield land for new homes, before greenfield is built on.

2015

The 5p charge for plastic carrier bags, introduced following a campaign led by CPRE, succeeds in an 86% fall in the number of disposable bags handed out.

2022

Ministers roll back proposed planning changes after pressure from CPRE campaigns to keep local democracy and community voices at the heart of decision-making.
A community push a brightly decorated trailer along with solar panels and wind turbines behind

2025

Announcement that solar panels are to be fitted on all new-build homes in England by 2027, a big CPRE campaign win.