Our view

CPRE has found a way to measure tranquillity. This measurement tool has, in turn, allowed us to work with university researchers to created a highly detailed map of tranquillity in England. Our hope is that the new map will help everyone to protect it.

Thanks to funding from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, we commissioned researchers to ask more than 1,000 people what they think tranquillity is, what enhances it and what detracts from it and how important those factors are to them. The 44 factors which emerged from that exercise were used to collect data on the characteristics of each locality – such as its closeness to roads and buildings, how noisy and crowded it is, how near to water and whether it offers views of open countryside. From that, a map was created that shows how likely we are to experience tranquillity in any given spot.
> Our tranquillity map explained

Now that we have clear answers on what tranquillity means to people and a rigorous way to measure it, we can create policies and take decisions about land use to protect and enhance tranquillity and confidently monitor how well the policies are working.

Much can be done to reclaim, enhance and protect tranquillity
Tranquillity can be measured, mapped, valued and protected. Sometimes it may even be enhanced. This will not happen through good will or warm words, but through concerted and effective action. We call on all people with a responsibility for protecting our environment, countryside and quality of life to take on the challenge and secure this powerful but fragile resource for all of us and for future generations.

The new methodology is a potentially powerful tool for land use and landscape planning. It has implications for targets, indicators, policies and plans relating to quality of life, countryside quality, landscape strategies, environmental management, spatial development and sustainable development:

• Government should use this tranquillity methodology as a basis for including tranquillity in a measure of the quality of the countryside
• Regional assemblies should use the methodology when developing policies in regional spatial and transport strategies
• Local authorities, unitary and National Park authorities and district councils, should use the tool when preparing Local Development Frameworks and making decisions about planning applications
• County councils and unitary authorities should take tranquillity into account in their local transport plans and mineral and waste development frameworks

We’ve created action sheets with more detail about solutions.