• Mersey Gateway
• Regional Housing Strategy
• Tranquillity and intrusion
• M6 widening
• New regional governance arrangements
• Mottram-Tintwistle bypass
• Heysham-M6 Link Road
• Regional Spatial Strategy
  • Regional Spatial Strategy - partial review

Tranquil countryside is being steadily eroded by urban sprawl and infrastructure for transport, energy and waste. Even though only around 12% of the England is actually developed, the ‘shadow’ of development – the areas which are affected by development through visual or noise intrusion – falls across 50% of the country. Check out our intrusion maps showing the increasing impact of this intrusion in the North West.

Working to protect the countryside’s tranquillity is what CPRE is all about – we’ve even put the task in our mission statement. The loss is a big problem because tranquillity is so important for so many reasons. It’s good for our mental and physical wellbeing, it improves our quality of life and it’s critical to rural economies.

Tranquillity can be measured, mapped, valued and protected. Sometimes it may even be enhanced. This will not happen through good will or warm words, but through concerted and effective action. We call on all people with a responsibility for protecting our environment, countryside and quality of life to take on the challenge and secure this powerful but fragile resource for all of us and for future generations.

You can view the results of CPRE's mapping of the relative tranquillity of the North West and find more information about our national tranquillity campaign here.