David Cameron gives speech to Campaign To Protect Rural England (CPRE)

David Cameron gives speech to Campaign To Protect Rural England (CPRE); ENGLAND: London: INT David Cameron (Leader, Conservative Party) speech SOT - It's such a pleasure to be here with you today. I was brought up in the countryside, and, representing a largely rural constituency, I live much of my life there today. But you don't have to live in the countryside to value it. The beauty of our landscape; the particular cultures and traditions that rural life sustains these are national treasures, to be cherished and protected for everyone's benefit. It's not enough for politicians just to say that - we need leaders that really understand it and feel it in their bones. I do. My constituency - West Oxfordshire, the gateway to the Cotswolds - is a permanet reminder of the connections between agriculture and landscape, the past and the present, economic activity and often breathtaking beauty. The countryside looks like it does because of centuries of grazing. The exquisite high streets of villages like Burford, the rich Town halls, Corn exchanges and Butter crosses of Witney and Chipping Norton are there because of the wealth generated from Cotswold wool. And the whole area - which is not some vast museum, but has a buzzing 21st century economy - retains its beauty because the planners decided to be tough, balance conservation with economic growth and insist on building in local stone.