At current rates of loss, countryside free from major disturbance could all but disappear in most regions of England well before the end of the century. Startling new maps published today (Monday) by countryside campaigners CPRE [1] show that currently 50% of England is disturbed by the sight and sound of nearby roads, urban areas and other major infrastructure.

NOTE FOR EDITORS

Regional, county and unitary authority statistics are linked on the right.

Downloadable print quality copies CPRE’s regional and national intrusion maps (1960s, 1990s and 2007) are available at: www.cpre.org.uk/news/media-centre. [2]

WEST MIDLANDS FINDINGS

• The West Midlands is a rapidly fragmenting region with the rate of change little slower since the 1990s; half (49%) of the region is blighted by noise and visual intrusion.
• The region has lost another 315 square miles (815 km²) to disturbance from noise and visual intrusion since the early 1990s – an area three times the size of Birmingham.
• At current rates of loss much of the remaining 50% of the region’s countryside could be blighted by the early part of the next century (120 years).
• Herefordshire and Shropshire (2nd and 5th least disturbed counties) remain nationally important reservoirs of undisturbed countryside.
• Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire are deeply fragmented.

Nationally, since the early 1990s 320 square miles (820km²) of countryside has been overshadowed by urban intrusion every year – or the area of Greater London every two years. At this rate much of the remaining 50% of the undisturbed countryside in England could be blighted in just 80 years.

These are the stark findings of new maps and analysis [3] which reveal the relentless intrusion of traffic and urban growth into the English countryside since the early 1960s. The maps show that in the early 1960s 26% of England’s land area was disturbed by urban intrusion; in the early 1990s this had grown to 41%; and by 2007 50% of England was affected by urban intrusion. This shows that the rate of loss is actually increasing.

CPRE Chief Executive Shaun Spiers says:

‘Countryside which is undisturbed by noise and development is vital for our quality of life and well-being. These maps show what the future may hold if we don’t sufficiently value our wonderful rural landscapes. As the shadow of intrusion stretches further and wider, the peace and quiet we need is harder to find.

‘It is often said that development will only take up a small percentage of England’s total land surface. But development of all kinds fragments the countryside, undermining the qualities of tranquillity, openness and immersion in the rural landscape which people most value about it. An area will no longer be experienced as truly rural long before half its surface is developed.’

The new research brings together maps for the early 1960s and 1990s with new maps and data for 2007. They show the extent of urban intrusion, including major infrastructure such as motorways, power stations, and airports.

Shaun Spiers warned:

‘The findings of this research are a wake-up call for the Government. It must strengthen policy to protect the remaining areas of undisturbed land and protect it for future generations.’ [4]

The maps show that major infrastructure, such as new power stations, runways and roads, has a far greater effect than the immediate land it takes:

• greenfield developments erode and urbanise the countryside projecting noise and light further and wider; [5]
• new roads slice through undisturbed landscapes shattering their calm and disrupting habitats and wildlife; [6]
• aviation growth threatens hundreds of homes with demolition, imposing constant noise on tens of thousands and blighting the skies of our protected landscapes. [7]

Yet people’s right to have their say over planning decisions on major infrastructure will be stripped away if Government proposals in the Planning White Paper are implemented. Members of the public must be heard and environmental impacts properly considered in such significant decisions for our countryside. [8]

To stem the future spread of intrusion CPRE is calling for stronger policies from Government including: more ambitious targets for recycling brownfield land [9]; promoting public transport as an attractive alternative to the car and halting current airport expansion plans.

Shaun Spiers concluded:

‘The countryside is one of our greatest national assets. I am sure that the Government wants to protect it – but these maps show the current pace of development is seriously eroding our countryside. The impact of development spreads way beyond its immediate footprint. More must be done to protect what is left from further fragmentation. The Government must act across the board to demonstrate that it takes the future of the countryside seriously. Unless it does so, for children alive today much of our remaining undisturbed countryside will become a distant memory in their lifetimes.’

– END –

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. CPRE, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, is a charity which promotes the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England. We advocate positive solutions for the long-term future of the countryside. Founded in 1926, we have 60,000 supporters and a branch in every county. President: Bill Bryson. Patron: Her Majesty The Queen.

2. Embargoed copies of national and regional maps are available to the media as tif files from: www.cpre.org.uk/news/media-centre. NOTE THE EMBARGO. If you cannot download from our website contact our press office (020 7981 2880). An explanation of the methodology, national and regional statistics of disturbed and undisturbed areas and change from 1960s, 1990s to 2007 and a full technical report are also available at the same website.

3. Land Use Consultants prepared the maps and accompanying technical report for CPRE; the 2007 maps are based on pioneering work by ASH Consulting in the 1990s and using where possible the same criteria. For 2007 the researchers updated the maps to link them to current national datasets. Any changes have been applied to all three periods so that they can be accurately and reliably compared. CPRE’s area of intrusion maps show the places which are close enough to towns and cities and major infrastructure such as roads, airports and power stations to be classed as disturbed by visual and noise intrusion. The areas of intrusion shown depend on the distances from various disturbing factors. Distances vary from factor to factor. These factors include motorways and A roads, urban areas above 2500 population, power stations, civil airports and military airfields, major power lines, mainline railways, active wind farms and working mines and quarries.

4. The largest remaining areas of deep, unfragmented countryside in England are mostly in National Parks – Dartmoor and Exmoor, the Yorkshire Dales, the North York Moors, the Lake District and Northumberland National Park. The Marches of Herefordshire and Shropshire and the North Pennines also harbour very large areas of deep unfragmented countryside.

5. A greenfield area of 25 square miles or on average, 6,590 hectares of undeveloped land becomes developed each year, according to the Government’s Land Use Change Statistics – Table F1, Land Use Change in England to 2005: revised Table F1 LUCS-21A, DCLG, January 2007. This is an area larger than the size of Southampton. 11.2% of England’s land area is urbanised, with only the Netherlands and Belgium more built up in Western Europe (Source: European Environment Agency).

6. Between 1985 and 2002, 20,000 hectares of land has changed to transport use from previously undeveloped land, roughly equivalent to an area three times the size of the city of Nottingham. Source: DfT Transport Trends 2002; car traffic accounting for four fifths of motor vehicle traffic has increased by 12 per cent since 1996 and over 800 per cent since the mid 1950s. Source: DfT Roads Statistics 2006.

7. In The Future of Air Transport Progress Report (Dec 2006), the DfT’s mid-range forecast is that the number of UK passengers will rise from 228 million in 2005 to about 380 million by 2020 with further growth thereafter (p75). It is estimated that between 1 and 2 million people in the UK are already affected by aircraft noise, ie they experience noise levels above 55 decibels (the level at which the World Health Organisation estimates “serious annoyance” sets in) (Hacan Clear Skies 2004).

8. The Government’s Planning White Paper, on which consultation closed on 17 August, proposes a new planning regime for deciding nationally significant infrastructure projects. This will involve setting out the need for major infrastructure through National Policy Statements. The White Paper suggests that Strategic Environmental Assessment may not be needed in all cases for such statements, and also that the Aviation White Paper, which proposes a massive expansion in airport capacity and has not been subject to Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) could become a National Policy Statement. Decisions on major infrastructure would then be taken by an Infrastructure Planning Commission rather than elected Ministers as at present. The Commission would be expected to approve any application as long as it was deemed in line with the National Policy Statement, and it would be left to the discretion of the Commission as to whether members of the public would have the right to appear at any public inquiry, or even whether a public inquiry took place at all. At present any member of the public who has made representations on a planning application into a major infrastructure project has the right to appear at a public inquiry.

9. Last year, 74% of new homes were built on previously developed land, up from 56% in 1997. The Government’s target for 60% of homes to be built on brownfield land by 2008 was achieved 8 years early – in 2000. CPRE is calling for this target to be raised to at least 75%.