High Weald is an historic landscape at the heart of South East England. It is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) for its rolling hills, small, irregular fields, abundant woods and hedges, scattered farmsteads and sunken lanes. In 2000, KKP evaluated the achievements and effectiveness of the countryside services in the AONB.

The evaluation helped to ensure that effective structures were in place to deliver current and future countryside management services in the AONB and to help take service delivery forward in a new and rapidly evolving policy environment. The evaluation comprised active participation from countryside management service providers and users.

Countryside management is defined as:

"Any activity that contributes to the management of land for the benefit of wildlife, landscape, heritage, or for the enjoyment of people using the countryside for informal recreation".

The evaluation found:

• Variable delivery of countryside management services across the AONB.
• Domination of countryside management services delivery by well-established local authority operations.
• A tendency for community projects to be education-based or involved with voluntary input to site management.
• Direct economic benefit resulting from some countryside management services. But most had indirect benefits for the rural economy, largely through informal recreation and tourism related activities.
• Limited integration of countryside management services with services provided by other local authority departments or sectors.

The findings provided an overview of what was happening and what needed to happen in the AONB, at a time when countryside management services were under review. It also highlighted how countryside management services could contribute more to the wider social and economic agendas.