The Countryside: Planning and Change (1981) examines the relationship between policies and their actual effects on the countryside, throwing light on the problems inherent in a fragmented approach to policy-making. It looks at the underlying reasons for change in the rural environment first and then the governmental response as reflected in powers assumed and rights granted to guide and direct rural development. The way in which land-use changes have been affected by public policies is then examined in further detail, with particular attention to settlements. Detailed case studies are utilised for this purpose.