Isn't it wonderful how the very latest report from whatever quango/public body/lobbying group can tell us something we didn't know? Or not, in this case. According to the report Saving Tranquil Places, a new audit by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), anyone seeking a quiet life should head for the windswept and rugged terrain of Northumberland. This news will have certainly come as a surprise to the rest of the UK, whose citizens had no doubt assumed Northumberland was a county criss-crossed by gridlocked motorways, the evening sky permanently lit up by the lights of a thousand all night raves as unfortunate inhabitants unable to escape the drugs-ridden urban hell riot in the streets. And I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say I was shocked to learn that the worst place for noise, congestion and pollution is Slough, which sits under the flight paths into Heathrow and is near the M4 corridor. Who'd have thought it? That's put paid to my dreams of a fortnight's holiday in the picturesque Slough countryside with only the gentle sound of birdsong to punctuate the rural idyll.
Is there a point to these surveys? Or are they simply vehicles for publicity?
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