The Rural-Urban Fringe

The Rural-Urban fringe is the land at the edge of an urban area, where the urban environment meets the country.  Within this area there is often a mixture of land uses - industry, motorways, by-passes, recreational land uses and farming all occur in the Rural-Urban fringe.

The land on the Rural-Urban fringe is often cheaper and as such, science parks, business parks and industrial estates locate there to utilise the space for expansion and good transport links. These necessary transport links (motorways and by-passes), have caused upset to environmental groups who feel that the area should be kept as green as possible (for example, the M25 which cuts through London’s greenbelt).

It’s not just motorways in the Rural-Urban fringes that cause upset. Before Heathrow’s Terminal 5 was built it was a great source of controversy. Supporters of the development hailed it as an essential for the modernisation of Heathrow, but environmental groups argued that it would increase the number of flights, noise and pollution. In March 2008, Terminal 5 opened. Heathrow does continue to have controversy surrounding its use of the Rural-Urban fringe of London though. In 2006, when the plans were unveiled for Terminal 5, there were also plans unveiled for a third runway at Heathrow. In 2009, the third runway was given the go ahead by the then Labour government, despite objections from environmental campaigners and the Conservatives. When the new coalition government came into force in May 2010, they scrapped the plans for the new runway. However, this July (2013), new plans have been submitted by Heathrow - three options (North, North-west and South-west of current site) each meant to be quicker and cheaper than previous plans. Only time will tell if Heathrow’s opposition will be able to hold off this development on this Rural-Urban fringe.

Other developments which cause controversy on Rural-Urban fringes are out-of-town shopping centres. They, like many of the other developments, take advantage of the available space, good transport links and cheap land. Many objections to out-of-town shopping centres are because people start shopping at the out-of-town centres, rather than in town, which causes the town centres to decline.

Housing may also encroach into the Rural-Urban fringe. With more and more people commuting to work, small villages expand to handle the rising numbers of people living in the Rural-Urban fringes. As a result, recreational uses of the Rural-Urban fringes, such as golf courses and leisure parks, are also built to cope with demand and to utilise the space.

As well as all the above mentioned uses, farming also occurs within the Rural-Urban fringe. However, with developers wanting more and more land to build on and agriculture being a tough way to earn a living now, farmers often come under pressure to sell their land.

References

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/urban_environments/urban_models_medcs_rev5.shtml

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7296022.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7829676.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8678282.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23337754

http://www.s-cool.co.uk/gcse/geography/settlements/revise-it/the-rural-urban-fringe