The Cheltenham and Gloucester College was allocated a number of rural squares on the dip slope of the Cotswolds, and these were surveyed in June by student volunteers from the Department of Countryside and Landscape. Five hundred 'key' rural squares matched squares whose changing land-use has been closely monitored by the ITE since 1978. Northern Ireland was surveyed with an additional 29 squares. Full details of the project, its results and interpretation, are planned for April 1997 publication, but as an interim notification this set of Preliminary Results also offers some useful analyses, grouped under rural and urban landscapes, and views and visions. The rural analysis by R Fuller and C Barr of the ITE describes how the results were classified using a computer package called The Countryside Information System , which enabled the computation of a total land cover area and percentage for each of the land classes.
Further detail is offered by way of regional break-downs and broad environmental choropleth maps.
The regional pattern shows, for example, that the towns of the East and West Midlands appear more built-up, and in other areas land given over to commerce exceeds that in industrial use. Responses on views and visions of the environment are presented by Rex Walford of Cambridge University, partly by selecting a number of quotations to give a flavour of the responses, and partly by attempting a qualitative analysis. With hindsight, I suppose my only regret is that I did not involve more students in the endeavour, particularly as I recall the enthusiasm and commitment of those few who did contribute and who, I am sure, got a lot from so doing.