Surrey and Buckinghamshire County Councils are situated in South East England which has the largest regional population in the UK (8.1m). At its heart lies London, a world city with a population of some 7 million. Surrounding the capital, the rest of the South East contains a number of large urban areas and many small to medium sized towns.
The region is endowed with a high quality environment, which makes the area an attractive place to live and work. Much of the countryside is subject to major environmental, cultural and planning designations. Outside the urban areas over 50% of all the land is covered by national or international designations including 24% by Green Belts.
Together with strategic and local level designations over 80% of the region's non-urban land is subject to one or more policy designations or constraints. The South East is a gateway to the rest of the United Kingdom, with transport infrastructure of national and international importance. This includes major international airports, five international railway stations, six major ports as well as extensive railway and motorway networks.
This project has received European Regional Development Funding through the INTERREG lll Community Initiative.