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DISTURBED': Campaigners say rising levels of development is having a detrimental effect on the countryside (Pictures taken with the assistance of Bournemouth Helicopters)

ALMOST 40 per cent of Dorset's countryside is now blighted by roads, urban areas or other major infrastructure, a report claims.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England says increased development is having a devastating effect on huge swathes of previously undisturbed countryside.

And their report also reveals that the last remaining pockets of peace and quiet in Bournemouth and Poole have now been completely wiped out.

Its publication comes just days before former Daily Echo journalist Bill Bryson, who is president of the CPRE, visits Parley Cross to speak out against green belt building schemes.

He will return to the area on Thursday to give a talk to approximately 200 members of the CPRE.

The charity has today published startling new maps showing that half of England is currently disturbed by the sight and sound of nearby roads, urban areas and other infrastructure.

In the 1960s, the south west region was the least disturbed by noise and visual intrusion but it has since lost 1,170 square miles of tranquil countryside.

Consequently, whereas 40 years ago, just 9.72 per cent of Dorset was deemed "disturbed," this has now risen to 38.86 per cent.

And in Bournemouth and Poole, the figures have risen from 96.58 per cent and 91.23 per cent respectively, to 100 per cent in both towns.

CPRE chief executive Shaun Spiers said their research should act as a "wake-up call" for the government.

He said: "The countryside is one of our greatest national assets. I am sure that the government wants to protect it but these maps show the current pace of development is seriously eroding our countryside.

"The impact of development spreads way beyond its immediate footprint. More must be done to protect what is left from further fragmentation.

"The government must act across the board to demonstrate that it takes the future of the countryside seriously.

"Unless it does so, for children alive today much of our remaining undisturbed countryside will become a distant memory in their lifetimes."

To halt the spread of future intrusion, CPRE is calling for the government to set more ambitious targets for recycling brownfield land, promote public transport and halt current airport expansion plans.

7:15pm Sunday 9th September 2007

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