Make sure your MP is backing tranquillity!

9 May 2007

MPs are backing the campaign by countryside campaigners CPRE [1] to safeguard England’s tranquillity, in both town and country. In November last year, CPRE published maps [2] showing, in detail and across the whole of England, how likely the local surroundings are to make a visitor feel tranquil. [3]

On Friday 18 May, the House of Commons is due to consider the Rural Tranquillity Bill sponsored by John Penrose, Conservative MP for Weston-super-Mare, and backed by MPs from all the major political parties. Mr Penrose is calling on the Government to measure tranquillity systematically and secure it for future generations. [4]

MPs have also been signing a House of Commons Early Day Motion backing the Rural Tranquillity Bill, and calling for Government action. So far, 66 MPs have signed the motion. [5]

Ben Stafford, Head of Campaigns at CPRE, said:

‘The support that MPs from all parts of England, and beyond, are giving to our work on tranquillity is a great boost to the campaign. Parliament can put the Government under pressure to save our tranquil places. Of course, we hope more MPs will sign Mr Penrose’s Early Day Motion, and that your readers will contact their MPs to urge them to do so!

‘Tranquil places contribute to our quality of life and health, both mental and physical. It’s hugely valuable for all of us, wherever we live, to be able to get away from it all into the countryside – including the countryside around towns. But despite this, existing planning policy pays only lip service to the principle of protecting tranquillity.’

Ben Stafford concluded:

‘Seeking out tranquillity and experiencing its benefits matters deeply to people [6]. But insensitive development, increases in road and air traffic, and even light pollution from urban sprawl, risk making the tranquillity valued by so many ever more elusive and, in parts of the country, no more than a memory. Local MPs can make a difference by giving their backing to the campaign in Parliament.’

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. Patron: Her Majesty The Queen.

2. CPRE’s tranquillity maps are the fruit of research over the past three years. They are based on hard data on noise, development and physical surroundings at a very local level combined with extensive surveys of what adds to or detracts from people’s experience of tranquillity. Every 500 metre by 500 metre square in England is given its own tranquillity score. The spectrum of colours on the maps ranges from deep red – within towns and cities and along major roads – through orange and yellow to a rich green in the most unspoilt areas of deep countryside, which have big views and little man-made noise.

The research team came from Northumbria University’s Centre for Environmental and Spatial Analysis and Participatory Evaluation and Appraisal in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Newcastle University’s Landscape Research Group and Bluespace environments, Durham.

3. Copies of CPRE’s county and national tranquillity maps plus this news release are available at: www.cpre.org.uk/news/media-centre (login – all lower case: user name: media, password: journalist). If you cannot download from our website, contact our press office (020 7981 2880). As well as counties, our new maps cover the major conurbations and the areas covered by unitary councils.

4. Friday 18 May: Second Reading of Ten Minute Rule Bill by John Penrose MP: Rural Tranquillity: The Bill will ‘provide for the establishment of an indicator for rural tranquillity; to provide for the protection of rural tranquillity in the planning process; and for connected purposes’.

5. The 66 MPs who have signed Early Day Motion 1107 (Tranquillity) (go to http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=32854&SESSION=885 for the text of the EDM), broken down by Government region, are:

• South West England: Andrew George (LibDem: St Ives); James Gray (Con: Wiltshire North); Nick Harvey (LibDem: Devon North); John Penrose (Con: Weston-super-Mare); Gary Streeter (Con: Devon South West); Robert Walter (Con: Dorset North)
• South East England: Norman Baker (LibDem: Lewes); Tony Baldry (Con: Banbury); Richard Benyon (Con: Newbury); John Bercow (Con: Buckingham); Peter Bottomley (Con: Worthing West); Michael Fallon (Con: Sevenoaks); Sandra Gidley (LibDem: Romsey); Damian Green (Con: Ashford); Mike Hancock (LibDem: Portsmouth South); Mark Oaten (LibDem: Winchester); Ian Taylor (Con: Esher & Walton); Dr Desmond Turner (Lab: Brighton Kemptown); Robert Wilson (Con: Reading East); Ann Winterton (Con: Maidstone & The Weald); Derek Wyatt (Lab: Sittingbourne & Sheppey)
• Greater London: John Austin (Lab: Erith & Thamesmead); Tom Brake (LibDem: Carshalton & Wallington); Dr Vincent Cable (LibDem: Twickenham); Derek Conway (Con: Old Bexley & Sidcup); Jeremy Corbyn (Lab: Islington North); Mark Field (Con: Cities of London & Westminster); John Horam (Con: Orpington); Alan Keen (Lab: Feltham & Heston); Susan Kramer (LibDem: Richmond Park); John McDonnell (Lab: Hayes & Harlington); Andrew Rosindell (Con: Romford); Angela Watkinson (Con: Upminster)
• Eastern England: David Amess (Con: Southend West); John Gummer (Con: Suffolk Coastal); Kelvin Hopkins (Lab: Luton North); Bernard Jenkin (Con: Essex North); Mike Penning (Con: Hemel Hempstead); Charles Walker (Con: Broxbourne); John Whittingdale (Con: Maldon & Chelmsford East); Tim Yeo (Con: Suffolk South)
• East Midlands: Alan Simpson (Lab: Nottingham South); David Taylor (Lab: Leicestershire North West)
• West Midlands: Janet Dean (Lab: Burton); Philip Dunne (Con: Ludlow); Paul Farrelly (Lab: Newcastle-under-Lyme); Roger Godsiff (Lab: Birmingham, Sparkbrook & Small Heath); John Hemming (LibDem: Birmingham, Yardley); Brian Jenkins (Lab: Tamworth); Dr Lynne Jones (Lab: Birmingham, Selly Oak); Jeremy Wright (Con: Rugby & Kenilworth)
• North East England: Bill Etherington (Lab: Sunderland North)
• North West England: Frank Field (Lab: Birkenhead); Mark Hunter (LibDem: Cheadle); Gerald Kaufman (Lab: Manchester, Gorton); John Leech (LibDem: Manchester, Withington); Paul Rowen (LibDem: Rochdale); Ben Wallace (Con: Lancaster & Wyre); Nicholas Winterton (Con: Macclesfield)
• Yorks & Humber: Nick Clegg (LibDem: Sheffield, Hallam), Ann Cryer (Lab: Keighley); Greg Mulholland (LibDem: Leeds North West)
• Wales: Paul Flynn (Lab: Newport West); Mark Williams (LibDem: Ceredigion); Roger Williams (LibDem: Brecon & Radnorshire)
• Northern Ireland: Dr Alasdair McDonnell (SDLP: Belfast South)

6. In a YouGov opinion poll commissioned by CPRE last September tranquillity – and its various manifestations – was mentioned, unprompted, by 72% of 2,248 respondents as one of the things they most enjoyed or appreciated about the countryside. The words people mainly used were peace and quiet, relaxation, tranquil, calm, serene, wide open spaces, freedom, escape, solitude and getting away from towns, cities, crowds, concrete, buildings. 61% of people said rural tranquillity was very important to them and 34% said it was fairly important to them.

A Government Survey of Public Attitudes to Quality of Life and to the Environment: 2001 on the Defra website. Under the heading ‘Things that make the countryside a place where respondents want to spend time’, peace and quiet was the most common reason for visiting the countryside. The five most mentioned positive features of the countryside were tranquillity (58 per cent), scenery (46 per cent), open space (40 per cent), fresh air (40 per cent) and plants and wildlife (36 per cent).

A 2004 Mori poll for the National Trust survey (called Landscapes in Britain) found that 49% of visitors to the countryside go there seeking peace and quiet.

---

Press releases, papers and documents published on this page are the intellectual property of an organisation unrelated to Central Lobby. We promote their parliamentary and political campaigning activities as they are subscribers to the Central Lobby service.

As such, Central Lobby does not edit, endorse, or attempt to balance the opinions expressed on this page. The content of press releases and other such types of content are the responsibility of the originating organisation.