About us

CPRE fights for a better future for England’s countryside. We are ordinary people who campaign to protect rural England; our resources are our members – we raise funds from membership subscriptions and by mounting appeals.

The countryside is unique, essential, precious and finite – and it’s in danger. In the Avonside area every year a little more is lost forever to urban sprawl, new roads, housing and other developments. Rural shops and services are under pressure and intensive farming is changing the character of the countryside. Climate change, too, will have serious impacts on the rural environment.

Locally and nationally we stand up for the countryside, trying to protect it from the threats it faces, and working to shape its future for the better. We don’t own land or represent any special interests. We believe a beautiful, thriving countryside is important for everyone, no matter where they live or how old they are. Millions of town and city dwellers recharge their batteries with a walk or a bike ride in the local Green Belt, spend weekends and holidays in our National Parks, enjoy fresh local produce. People who live in rural areas help keep our countryside beautiful and productive. People everywhere value the countryside for what it is, what it represents, and simply because it exists.

And because we believe that town and country are interdependent, we work for the sustainable use of land and other natural resources in towns and cities as well as the countryside.

The area covered by Avonside Branch of CPRE is bounded to the north by the Severn Valley, the east by the Cotswold escarpment, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), the Mendip Hills to the south, another AONB, and in the west by the banks of the River Severn and the coastal strip from Portishead to Weston-Super-Mare. The name derives from the former county of Avon which is now made up of the four Unitary Authorities, South Gloucestershire, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset ,and the city of Bristol.

The Branch is run by an Executive Committee and is divided into Districts, one for each of the authorities, each with its own committee, except Bristol which is divided between South Gloucestershire and North Somerset Districts.

You can see details of our current campaigns and activities on the Home Page and the pages of each District Group.