The independent status of the new Integrated Agency, announced by Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett today, was welcomed today by the Countryside Agency.
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Independence: key word for new agency - 24 February 2004

The independent status of the new Integrated Agency, announced by Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett today, will be welcomed by everyone with an interest in our countryside, according to Sir Ewen Cameron, chairman of the Countryside Agency and the government’s rural advocate.


“As an executive non-departmental public body, the new agency will have the power and authority to give impartial and independent advice to policy makers on biodiversity, natural resource protection, landscape and recreation. The Secretary of State has stressed the importance of independent advice for the government. Both the new Integrated Agency and a re-focussed Countryside Agency should be able to provide this as non-departmental public bodies.

“With the expertise of the Countryside Agency, English Nature and the Rural Development Service working alongside the Forestry Commission, I can predict the new Integrated Agency will be a force to be reckoned with,” concluded Sir Ewen.

Note to Editors:

Further information or interview please contact the Countryside Agency press office on 0207 340 2906/7/9 

Lord Haskins’ Review of Rural Delivery, and the Government’s interim response announcing the creation of a new Integrated Agency was published on 11 November 2003.

The Countryside Agency is the statutory body working to make the quality of life better for people in the countryside and the quality of the countryside better for everyone.   It is funded by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs.   

The Agency was established at the end of March 1999, following the merger of the Countryside Commission and the Rural Development Commission  to champion the English countryside and tackle real rural priorities - the statutory body responsible for advising Government and taking action on issues relating to the social, economic and environmental well-being of the English countryside.