The new president of the Council for the Protection of Rural England has gone from Fleet Street to green belt, and he's in a determined mood. He fields questions from Gemma White
If you were choosing an ambassador for rural Britain, a man who spent six years at the helm of London's daily newspaper who has been jokingly referred to as "Hitler" might not be your obvious choice for the job.

But there's a side to Sir Max Hastings – former editor of the Daily Telegraph and London's Evening Standard, self-confessed "frustrated soldier" and new president of the Council for the Protection of Rural England – that most people don't know. He has always been passionate about the countryside.

Sir Max – he was knighted this year for his services to journalism – lives in rural Berkshire, lists shooting and fishing as his preferred recreations in Who's Who and says he has inherited a "terribly romantic vision of rural England" from the writing of his father, Macdonald Hastings, a war correspondent and countryside aficionado. But in truth, he has a handle on the issues currently affecting rural people which is far from romantic, bemoaning the fact that his farming neighbour is shutting down his dairy because "like most of his kind up and down the land, he is losing a fortune from milk production".

One anecdote about Sir Max's newspaper days even suggests that he may be better suited to the role of countryside champion than he was to his previous job: it is said that former Evening Standard editor Simon Jenkins once had to take Hastings for a drive around London on a Sunday to prove the capital was still occupied at weekends.

Talking about his new position, Sir Max exudes a boyish enthusiasm and humility incongruous with his booming voice and imposing six-foot-plus presence. The CPRE's purpose is, Sir Max announces, "to preserve the wonderful landscape of England for future generations".

He continues: "I was very flattered to have been asked to be president. After so many years of being in the business of making a living, it's about time I put something back and carry out a public service."

Appointing the new president, CPRE chairman Sir David Ford said he was looking forward to Sir Max "making a powerful and distinguished contribution" to the organisation's important work "just as he has done in many other fields".

A man known for his forthright manner, Sir Max promises his presidency will not involve him "shouting my own views from the rooftops". "It is important that I stress my joining the CPRE is not to make policy.

"My business is words and my job is to help the CPRE put across their issues to the public. To be a voice."

I look out of my window across a green field now, and I would kick up a tremendous fuss if those fields were filled with houses

England's glory
One issue he is keen to voice is the problem of balancing the need for more housing against the defence of greenbelt land. Sir Max is well-equipped to comment – his job at the Evening Standard made him acutely aware of the South-east's affordable housing squeeze.

"We live in one of the most overcrowded communities in the world and space, especially green space, is very precious," he says. "The challenge is to strike a balance between giving people the housing they want and need while avoiding destroying the space that has been England's glory for hundreds of years.

"Very often, it is nimbyism that drives people to protest against developments near to where they live. I look out of my window across a green field now and I would kick up a tremendous fuss if those fields were filled with houses."

Sir Max made his dislike of housebuilders clear in an article published in the Observer newspaper shortly after he took up his post in June. He wrote that although housebuilders do a vital job they are "intensifying pressure on the government to release more agricultural land for building and in many areas they face no resistance from farmers, eager to grab the cash".

He backs fully the CPRE's view that stringent planning is "the unsung hero of environmental protection, economic prosperity and the quality of life".

What is needed, he believes, is new thinking – backed by more public money – on how to create affordable housing in rural areas.

Despite his enthusiasm for his new role, one can't help but wonder if Sir Max, an "unruly schoolboy" who stumbled into journalism, will miss the cut and thrust of the newsroom.

"When I left the Evening Standard," he explains, "a friend said to me, 'but you won't get asked to Downing Street anymore'.

Sir Max Hastings

Born
28 December, 1945
Education
Charterhouse school and University College, Oxford
Career
Contributed to numerous national newspapers and the BBC, including a stint as a foreign correspondent, reporting from more than 60 countries and 11 wars – including the 1982 Falklands War. He spent 10 years as editor and then editor-in-chief of the Daily Telegraph. Appointed editor of the London Evening Standard in 1996, from which job he has recently stepped down. A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he has won many awards for his journalism. Among his bestselling books, Bomber Command won the Somerset Maugham Prize and both Overlord and Battle for the Falklands won the Yorkshire Post Book of the Year Prize.