Britain: An official handbook > 1959

jga BRITAIN: AN OFFICIAL HANDBOOK
The total area of the eight parks is nearly half a million acres, including planted
areas and unplantable moorland and mountains. Camping facilities are provided in
most of the parks.
Nature Conservation
The responsibility for nature conservation rests with the Nature Conservancy
(see the Science section of Chapter VII), which derives the necessary powers for
the proper discharge of its functions from the National Parks and Access to the
Countryside Act, 1949. The object of conservation, which is to influence soils,
water, vegetation and animal life, either directly or indirectly by means of research,
experiment and control, entails the acquisition and management of a representative
series of Reserves, as well as the establishment of laboratories for use in long-term
research schemes.
Sixty-five Nature Reserves, covering 128,096 acres in Great Britain, had been
declared by the end of June 1958. The Cairngorms Reserve, which covers 39,639
acres, is the largest of these; it is also one of the largest in Europe. In addition, two
Forest Nature Reserves (which are not under the control of the Nature Conser¬
vancy) have been set up, by the Forestry Commission and the Crown Estate
Commissioners, to be managed in the interest of ecological research and of timber
production.
In addition to national Nature Reserves and Forest Nature Reserves, there were,
by end-June 1958, six local Nature Reserves, established and administered by local
authorities, in consultation with the Nature Conservancy, using their own powers
under the Act.
Apart from the statutory Nature Reserves, there are also a number of non-
statutory reserves managed by societies such as the Society for the Promotion of
Nature Reserves, County Naturalists’ Trusts and the Royal Society for the Pro¬
tection of Birds. Under bird protection legislation, powers have long existed to
create statutory bird sanctuaries, where interference with birds and their eggs is
penalised.
Preservation of Amenities
Responsibility for the preservation of the historic, scenic and architectural
beauties of Great Britain is vested mainly in the Minister of Housing and Local
Government, the Secretary of State for Scotland, and the various statutory planning
authorities and commissions. The Ministry of Works is also concerned, both
because it is the Department responsible for the maintenance of royal parks and
palaces and because it is empowered by the provisions of the Historic Buildings
and Ancient Monuments Act, 1953, to assist in the preservation of historic houses
by making grants (after consultation with specially constituted Historic Buildings
Councils) for their upkeep together with their contents and their adjoining land.
By end-July 1958, grants totalling £1,650,000 had been paid towards, the cost of
urgently needed structural repairs to 546 historic buildings in England, Scotland
and Wales.
Unofficial amenity societies, wholly dependent upon the support of their mem¬
bers, include: the Council for the Preservation of Rural England, founded in 1926
to organise concerted action to secure the protection of rural scenery and of town
and country amenities from disfigurement or injury; the Association for the
Preservation of Rural Scotland, founded in 1927 for the protection of rural scenery
and the amenities of country districts and towns and villages in Scotland; the
Commons, Open Spaces and Footpaths Preservation Society; the Ramblers’ Asso¬
ciation; the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings; the Pilgrim Trust;