The Countryside Commission (formally the Countryside Commission for England and Wales, then the Countryside Commission for England) was a statutory body in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is En ...

, and later in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

only. Its forerunner, the National Parks Commission, was established in 1949 by the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 to co-ordinate government activity in relation to

National Park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

s. This body became the Countryside Commission for England and Wales in 1968, when its duties were expanded to cover the countryside as a whole in England and Wales (a separate Countryside Commission for Scotland covered

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

). In 1991 the

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

part of the organisation was split off and amalgamated with the equivalent part of the Nature Conservancy Council (NCC) to become the

Countryside Council for Wales The Countryside Council for Wales (CCW; cy, Cyngor Cefn Gwlad Cymru (CCGC)) was a Welsh Assembly sponsored body responsible for wildlife conservation, landscape and countryside access authority for Wales. It was merged with Forestry Commis ...

. The rest of the organisation became the Countryside Commission for England – for the moment it remained separate from

English Nature English Nature was the United Kingdom government agency that promoted the conservation of wildlife, geology and wild places throughout England between 1990 and 2006. It was a non-departmental public body funded by the Department for Environmen ...

, as the English part of the NCC became. The Countryside Commission ceased to exist in 1999 when it was merged with the Rural Development Commission to form the Countryside Agency. This has in turn evolved into

Natural England Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...

, partly by eventual merger with English Nature.

List of chairmen of the Countryside Commission

* The Baroness Wootton of Abinger * Sir John Cripps (1970–1977) * The Lord Winstanley (1978–1980) * Sir Derek Barber (1981–1991) * Sir John Johnson (1991–?) *

Richard Simmonds Richard James Simmonds, CBE (born 2 August 1944) is a retired English Conservative Party politician. He was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Midlands West from 1979 to 1984 and then for Wight and Hampshire East from 1984 to 1994. ...

(1996?–?)

References

Defunct public bodies of the United Kingdom Government agencies established in 1949 Government agencies disestablished in 1999 National parks of England and Wales Rural society in the United Kingdom {{UK-org-stub