Countryside Alliance - love the countryside

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has issued guidance confirming that covert surveillance by animal rights groups should be authorised under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. It has also confirmed that evidence obtained through unauthorised covert surveillance is in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. The new guidance says:

Countryside Alliance Chief Executive Simon Hart looks back on a busy and productive year for the organisation and its campaigns: As 2009 draws to a close it brings an opportunity to look back on all that the Countryside Alliance has achieved this year. The year-end leaves us in robust health with more members than ever before and a strong sense of purpose across a range of vital rural issues.

Countryside Alliance Chief Executive Simon Hart writes about the impact proposals to cut temporary polling stations would have on rural areas: The foundation of any democracy is the right of every citizen to cast their vote in person and in secrecy. Of course there must be an alternative for those who cannot vote in person because of illness incapacity or travel, but the basis of a fair and transparent electoral system in the pencil and the ballot box.

The Countryside Alliance is constantly seeking new ways of communicating with our supporters, and to that end we have recently added a blog facility to our website. The blog will be updated by the campaigns and communications teams and will provide a more personal and “behind the scenes” insight into our work and the way we operate.

Click here to view the blog – you the reader will have the opportunity to comment on each post, and we hope this adds a positive extra dimension to our website.

The Countryside Alliance has launched its Rural Manifesto, which will be the focus of its campaigning up to the General Election. The Manifesto promotes changes in five key areas that will make a real and lasting difference to the countryside and is urging supporters to sign up to its aims. As Britain’s best known and most effective rural campaigning group, in the run up to the General Election the Countryside Alliance aims to offer a blueprint to put the countryside at the heart of Government policy. Alliance Chairman Kate Hoey MP launched the Manifesto in the Sunday Telegraph on Sunday 3rd June.