Phil Greswell, Hertfordshire and North Middlesex Area
My role is to implement the Rambler’s charitable aim to safeguard the beauty of the countryside, at a local level. To watch out for all kinds of unsightly and polluting developments and to campaign appropriately.
I enjoy this role, it is intellectually stimulating and requires tenacity. It will be interesting to see what the outcomes are. I have learnt a great deal about planning in the process, as an understanding of planning issues is key to this work. I’ve learnt as I have gone along, picking things up on the way. I work quite closely with CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England) and have built up links and good working relationships with their volunteers, who are dealing with similar concerns.
Probably the most important aspect of this work is to raise awareness by keeping people informed, because so many people are unaware of the detrimental developments that are proposed. They can then do something about it if they wish. To this end my main achievement was to write to our 4,300 Area members notifying them of the very poorly publicised consultation of the draft East of England Regional Spatial Strategy, so they could respond. The strategy wants to build 80,000 houses in Hertfordshire, threatening the countryside and the environment. It was this impending threat which made me take on this role as I feel very strongly about it and wanted to act. Other campaigns I have been involved with are the Luton and Stansted airport expansion proposals and their associated consultations.
It seems to me that the views of individuals and their letters to politicians carry the most weight. But getting the message out there in the first place is a challenge in itself, particularly as some of the issues can be quite complex.
My future plans are to continue to build on my knowledge to date and think of new ways to be as effective as possible. It would be good if I could build up a team of interested people to help, and I am considering ways this might be done. It is difficult to find out everything that is going on countywide and we need Countryside Secretaries for our seven Groups if we are to succeed.
But you don’t need to have a detrimental development right on your doorstep to become involved in this work – we can all campaign for wider countryside issues, regardless of where we live.
Length of time volunteering in this role: 1 year
