SURREY has emerged from a national research survey as the noisiest, busiest, most stressed county in England outside the major cities - and Farnham is a hotspot. The research has not just produced words – a huge splurge of red representing seriously intrusive noise, light pollution, urban development and aircraft disturbance – spreads out from London across the M25 on a map plotting tranquillity, produced by the Universities of Northumbria and Newcastle for the Campaign to Protect Rural England. In Surrey the picture is of a map plotting a lack of tranquillity. A great blob of red covers Farnham, another covers Guildford and Woking and a broad orange corridor with red focal points obliterates the whole of Reigate, Redhill, Caterham down to Horley. Epsom and Ewell and Esher are solidly red, Egham and Staines, Camberley and Frimley hot red and orange. Orange tracks the A24 south toward Horsham. The map should ring alarm bells in Surrey because the county's open landscape is supposed to be protected by a raft of policies such as the Green Belt from the pressures of London. Most of Surrey's best countryside falls within the Surrey Hills is Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and within Areas of Great Landscape Value, designations specifically to protect the natural environment from development of all kinds in a manner equivalent to a national park. But while the countryside may be green on the Ordnance Survey, on this tranquillity map, the amount of red and orange speaks of constant intrusion of 21st century frenzied activity on the roads, in the air, all around. Based on hard data on noise, development and physical surroundings researched at a very local level, the map reveals just how precarious tranquillity is in this county. Tim Harrold, chairman of CPRE Surrey, said: "The map of Surrey illustrates clearly just how bad the situation is in London and our Surrey towns and how important it is that we protect the countryside south of London as an oasis to which people can escape for peace and quiet without travelling long distances." Tranquillity is universally recognised as a public benefit. Everyone needs access to peace and quiet, especially rural quiet, in order to recharge their batteries ready for the hurly-burly of Monday mornings. Thanks to the CPRE highlighting the issue, John Penrose, MP for Weston-Super-Mare, introduced a Rural Tranquillity Bill which has been tabled for second reading on May 18, calling for protection of peace and quiet in both countryside and urban environments. Ian Taylor, MP for Esher and Walton, said: "The situation is not going to get easier because of the government's housing quotas," he said. "The bill is just a Private Member's Bill so it is unlikely to go further but the issue of tranquillity to me is a no- brainer. "In a constituency like mine, tranquillity should be a high priority, one of the concepts built into the planning system. "If we had a tranquillity index to go alongside a density index that would give people a better quality of life." Environment Secretary David Miliband, endorsed the need to protect areas of peace and quiet when he spoke at CPRE's 80th anniversary earlier this spring. "As politicians we don't speak often enough about beauty in terms of the quality of the environment," he said. "We are too often nervous about embracing other aspect of what you might call the 'soft currency' – the intangible value of our land. The CPRE's work to try to capture the value of rural tranquillity is vital if we are to avoid undervaluing the environment." Each Private Member's Bill can only have 11 named supporters, and with Mr Penrose's Bill reaching that target, local MP Jeremy Hunt pledged his support. "The issues that I spend most of my time on are the overdevelopment of our communities and traffic congestion problems. Both of these issues are related to the fact that we have an ever vanishing number of places available for residents to enjoy peace, quiet and tranquillity. It is important to focus the attention of the government and local authorities on quality of life issues such as this and I wish my colleague John Penrose MP every success with his Bill." Thankfully you can still find genuine tranquillity in Surrey. Large areas predominantly in the south west still retain green credentials on the tranquillity map. The downs and greens and hills between Guildford and Dorking and south to Cranleigh justify their role as a magnet for walkers, cyclists and horseriders in pursuit of rural pleasure and leisure. There are pockets of green tranquillity between the red Farnham to Camberley corridor and Guildford and it is reassuringly green between Farnham, Godalming and Haslemere and in the far east of the county.