Formed in 1926 by Patrick Abercrombie to limit urban sprawl and ribbon development, the CPRE claims to be one of the longest running environmental groups in the UK.

The inaugural meeting was held in December 1926 at the London offices of the Royal Institute of British Architects and was addressed by Neville Chamberlain, a future prime minister.

[5] The early years In CPRE's first years, it campaigned for rural planning, for the creation of national parks in especially beautiful areas and used for the recreation of those living in cities, for the reservation of farming belt zones around towns and cities so as to keep fresh produce close to urban markets and against urban sprawl and uncontrolled ribbon development.

[8] When England's first motorway the M1 was proposed in 1957, CPRE successfully campaigned for it to avoid the heart of Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire (the road was put into a cutting).

In 1988 it helped persuade the Chancellor of the Exchequer to scrap tax incentives favouring blanket conifer plantations in upland areas.

In 1995 CPRE published “tranquillity” maps which show the diminishing areas of the countryside not disturbed by man-made noise, visual intrusion or light pollution.

In 1996, English composer John Rutter wrote the words and music for an anthem entitled "Look at the World" in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the CPRE.

[13] In 2018 after CPRE's 10-year campaign against drink-container litter, the Government announced that it is considering the introduction of a deposit return scheme to increase recycling rates.

[14] According to the main CPRE website, campaigns in 2022 are now grouped under the broad headlines, Dark Skies, Hedgerows, What gets built where, and the Climate Emergency.

Effort is put into reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and the fight for farmers to be recognised for the work they do in protecting the character of the countryside.

[22] There is campaigning against large-scale fracking operation in the UK, that will destroy large areas of the countryside and exacerbate the global plastic binge (2018).

The CPRE promotes a large number of rural attractions such as gardens, houses and museums, by means of its annual Members' Guide.

[27] In 2015, CPRE published the 'Warm and Green' report, which sheds new light on the scale of the energy problems and the solutions needed to tackle them.

[28] During the same year CPRE earned the Bankside Star by contributing significantly to the Together at Christmas gift collection campaign for the homeless, vulnerably housed and elderly people.

[29] CPRE has influenced public policy relating to town and country planning in England, most notably in the formation of the National Parks and AONBs in 1949, and of green belts in 1955.

For example, in December 2008 George Monbiot of The Guardian interviewed the then CPRE head, Shaun Spiers, about the organisation's opposition to wind farms but not opencast coal mines.

George Monbiot asked why he couldn't find any opposition of the CPRE to surface coal mining over the past five years, and pointed out that the negative effects that coal mines cause by removing the soil from large areas are much greater than the negative effects wind energy might have on the countryside.

[39] However, perhaps as a result of this pressure, in 2010, campaigning against inappropriate mineral extraction by opencast mining started to be featured under the 'Climate change and natural resources' section of CPRE's website.

[43] According to a right-wing think tank, the Institute for Economic Affairs, only about one-tenth of the English surface area, (rather than the Green Belt) is 'developed' in the broadest sense; about half of this 'development' consists of domestic gardens, leaving only one-twentieth which is really 'under concrete' (including roads, railways, car parks, etc.).