CONSERVATIONISTS have joined forces to paint a grim picture of a countryside starved of money by budget cuts.

A coalition of green groups has issued an unprecedented warning against reductions in spending that would hit public recreation, conservation and wildlife-friendly farming.

Paul de Zylva, chairmain of Wildlife and Countryside Link, said: “We all know the new government will have a hard job making difficult and far-reaching decisions about where the axe should fall on public spending.

“There may be a temptation to see cuts in conservation and recreation as an easy win, but in reality ministers need to think very hard before making cuts that could have profound and perhaps irreversible consequences.”

In the case of conservation, slashing budgets would be a false economy, said Mr de Zylva.

“Short term savings would translate into huge long term costs for our economy and our national well-being.”

The 25 members of Wildife and Countryside Link include the Campaign for National Parks, Campaign to Protect Rural England, the Open Spaces Society, the Wildlife Trusts and the Woodland Trust.

Supporters are set to meet MPs at a parliamentary reception to celebrate the organisation's 30th anniversary in London on Wednesday (14 July).

They fear an “austerity countryside”, where the loss of public money has left the country’s best wildlife habitats degraded.

Without cash to keep paths and bridleways open, huge swathes of English countryside and coast would effectively closed to millions of people, the groups claim.

In turn, the rural economy would be denied the large sums of money spent every year by visitors to the countryside.

Mr de Zylva said: “Such a picture is not an exaggeration, but nor is it an inevitability. Minsters will need to make difficult choices about which areas of public spending offer the best value for money.

Defra and government agencies like Natural England spent just 0.5% of the government’s budget, he claimed, yet their investment in the countryside brought huge benefits.

“The Deputy Prime Minister has said it would be morally wrong to leave our children and grandchildren with huge debts.

“It would be just as immoral to bequeath them an impoverished environment and an England that is in many ways diminished.”