The Supply of Public Access to the Countryside—A Value for Money and Institutional Analysis of Incentive Policies

A number of incentive schemes have recently been established which pay farmers and landowners for the provision of additional public access to the countryside. In this paper these schemes are subjected to a value for money (VFM) appraisal as a means of assessing the public benefits from government and agency expenditures. The evidence indicates that such schemes typically produce variable but limited VFM, reflecting deficiencies both in the quality of the access experiences provided and in the information flow to the public. Mechanisms for increasing efficiency are discussed. The current expansion of public expenditure on access, despite evidence of limited benefits to users, is analysed by examining the positions of actors and interest groups within the policy process.