Rising traffic levels and heavy lorries are damaging country lanes and roads, a rural lobby group said yesterday.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England said that two thirds of people find the level of traffic threatening.

A spokeswoman for the DfT told ePolitix.com: "We have made provision for local authorities to designate quiet lanes in their areas through the Transport Act 2000."

Forum Response: Countryside Agency

Jaki Bayly, head of transport at the Countryside Agency, told ePolitix.com: "The aim of the Countryside Agency's Quiet Lanes initiative, which is currently being piloted in Kent and Norfolk, is to maintain the character of networks of minor rural roads by containing rising traffic growth that is widespread in rural areas.

"The project relies on changing user behaviour through local community involvement and is not intended as a device to traffic calm busy roads or to address issues of rat running and HGVs.

"Once the pilot projects have been completed and the results published later this year, we will be in a position to see how effective the initiative has been and how it could be rolled out in other areas."

Forum Response: Countryside Alliance

Richard Burge, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, told ePolitix.com: "This campaign is a nice idea in principle but is unlikely to work on a practical level.

"In order to combat the issue of commuters using rural roads as 'rat runs' a whole lot more - ie John Prescott's 10 Year Transport Strategy - needs to be done - this campaign will not work on its own.

"What must be remembered is that it is not just 'townies' who use rural roads - rural people rely on them for their lives and livelihoods to get around - whether they are on a bicycle, car, lorry or tractor. With such poor bus and rail services in rural areas this is unlikely to change in the short term"