‘A much needed step towards safeguarding a more tranquil environment’ is how the Campaign to Protect Rural England [1] describes the publication of detailed noise maps by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs today (Friday).

‘The Minister’s commitments to draw up action plans to reduce noise pollution and protect designated quiet areas from any increase in noise [2] are some of the most imaginative initiatives from Defra. They deserve emphatic support from anyone who cares about the quality of our own human habitat,’ said Tom Oliver, Head of Rural Policy at CPRE.

There is an urgent need for other Government departments and particularly the Department for Transport and the Department for Communities and Local Government [3] to reverse their apparent disregard for the message from Defra’s maps in pursuing ever expanding air and road infrastructure.

‘The reality facing people across England is a steadily escalating pressure from potential sources of noise pollution.  Defra’s recognition of the importance of reducing noise where possible and preventing it from blighting quiet places sets a standard that all public authorities should be following.  CPRE’s tranquillity maps [4] have already shown what is at stake if we don’t act to restrain disturbance damaging to human happiness and health.

‘“The practical steps” promised by Environment Minister Jonathan Shaw “to make people’s lives more tranquil” are eagerly awaited by CPRE and we will do what we can to help the Government and local authorities achieve them,’ Tom Oliver concluded.

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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. www.cpre.org.uk

2. In a press release issued today, Friday 16 May, Environment Minister Jonathan Shaw committed to Government to draw up action plans ‘to reduce unreasonable levels of noise, where practical. In urban areas these will also include measures to protect designated quiet areas’.

3. Plans for a third runway at Heathrow, the forthcoming expansion of Bournemouth airport and numerous new major road schemes, for example, are likely to generate unreasonable levels of noise pollution in the future, in both rural and urban areas.

4. In October 2006 CPRE published a revolutionary new tranquillity map (http://www.cpre.org.uk/campaigns/landscape/tranquillity) for the whole of England, which is increasingly being used by public and private bodies in spatial planning and the design and location of new development.