8.1 The rationale for protected areas

Some places have particular national or international importance in terms of the contribution their land uses make to public goods, externalities (Turner, 2002) and ecosystem services. These values are of consequence not just for people living or working in the locality, but also, perhaps even more so, for people who visit (direct use values) or who benefit from the knowledge of the conservation of the area (existence values). In this respect the management of the area becomes a legitimate interest to a broader population; the high public values of these areas warrant a higher standard of environmental management. This requires more intensive public engagement, incurring higher levels of transactions costs than is generally the case in other areas. Protected Areas are thus designated by a higher-level public authority and are the subject of special forms of governance. This will often involve some limitations over the rights of local users, positive incentives for certain types of management and direct involvement by the higher public authority. This intervention requires the development of institutions that can guide land uses and management towards the interests of the wider public. This type of arrangement applies particularly to National Parks and these are the focus of this chapter.

8.2 War-time issues and precursors

Beyond the legislation for agriculture and town and country planning, a third seminal Act of Parliament from the late 1940s opened up a new area of government involvement in the rural environment. The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 brought together a series of issues relating to the environmental values of the countryside.