Campaigners warn of development blight facing countryside

Urban growth and the development of roads, airports, power stations and other infrastructure could effectively swallow up what is left of England's undisturbed countryside by the end of the century, campaigners have claimed.

That warning came from the Campaign to Protect Rural England which has published a series of maps which indicate that already around 50 per cent of England is disturbed by the sight and sound of nearby roads, urban areas and other development.

CPRE said the maps showed that the South East is all but disappearing under development with 70 per cent of the region affected and the remaining 30 per cent set to be blighted within 45 years if current rates of urbanisation and development continue.

The maps show that in the early 1960s some 26 per cent of England's land was disturbed by urban intrusion; in the early 1990s this had grown to 41 per cent; and by 2007 50 per cent of England was affected by urban intrusion. CPRE said this indicated that the rate of loss was increasing.

CPRE chief executive Shaun Spiers said: "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 most people most value about it. An area will no longer be experienced as truly rural long before half its surface is developed."

Roger Milne

13 September 2007