DOWER, Michael Shillito Trevelyan CBE (1933-2022)
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Michael Dower obituary
Director general of the Countryside Commission who oversaw the creation of the National Forest
In the early 1960s Michael Dower, who has died aged 88, was an early proponent of a “joined-up” countryside. As a town planner at the Civic Trust he grew to realise what a contested space it is, with many interests fighting their corners, whether for farming, access, nature, beauty or community [….]
In 1985, he was appointed chief executive of the Peak District National Park. At the time several national parks were deeply unpopular with their resident communities, who felt they were hostile to local needs and concerned only with visitors and conservation. Indeed, when Michael arrived in Bakewell to take up his post there were signs saying: “Abolish the Peak Park.”
His response was unusual but highly effective – to listen to the park’s detractors. In this way he found solutions to the vacuum of confidence. Within two years the park was pioneering a scheme to pay farmers to carry out environmental management, supporting businesses to make and market goods reflecting the area’s distinctive character, setting up a Peak Park Trust to restore and manage historic buildings and championing affordable housing for local people [….]
In 1992 Michael became director general of the Countryside Commission. He brought the same wide-ranging vision and determination to bear, taking account of all the things that matter in the countryside, as for instance the creation of the National Forest as a way of both planting millions of trees and encouraging regeneration, new jobs and vigour for the old coalfields and industrial areas of parts of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Staffordshire. He continued to innovate in agriculture, pioneering ideas that are now reaching fruition in the Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMs) scheme to pay farmers for delivering things that benefit the public [….]
Born in Hampstead Garden Suburb, north London, Michael was the son of Pauline (nee Trevelyan), whose father had been a Labour education minister under Ramsay MacDonald, and John Dower, the author of the 1945 white paper that led to large parts of the 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act. After John’s death Pauline became a member of the National Parks Commission, overseeing them in their early days [….]
After gaining a town planning diploma at University College London he worked for the London county council (1957-59) and then went to the Civic Trust (1960-65). There he met Nan Done on a working party. They married in 1960 and had three sons, John, Dan and Alex. In Ireland he worked on tourism and amenity planning (1965-67), and then came the call to Dartington.
In retirement, Michael and Nan moved from Cheltenham to Beaminster in Dorset where Michael embraced localism and the power of local connections, helping to form the Dorset Climate Action Network. He thought globally and acted locally, inspiring community projects to plant trees, encourage renewable energy and involve schoolchildren.
He is survived by Nan, his sons, four grandsons and a granddaughter.
Michael Shillito Trevelyan Dower, public servant and conservationist, born 15 November 1933; died 7 November 2022