THE peace and quiet of Britain’s national parks is being threatened by the continual increase in overflights from ever-growing airports, says the respected Campaign for the Protection of Rural England.

In 2006, research by university scientists commissioned by the CPRE showed that tranquillity” is one of the major reasons for townsfolk taking holidays in national parks – and that some central parts of the Yorkshire Dales are amongst the quietest areas of England.

Last Friday, the House of Commons transport select committee warned that “current airspace guidance appears to allow unchecked increases in flights over sensitive areas such as national parks. This would progressively destroy the peace and quiet that make these areas special.”

Responding to the report, Ralph Smyth, senior transport campaigner at CPRE, comments: “With ever more people holidaying in England this summer, the proposal to limit flying over sensitive parts of our countryside such as areas of outstanding natural beauty have not come a moment too soon.”

The CPRE is now using some of the evidence produced by its 2006 survey to work with the Civil Aviation Authority to asses the impact of aircraft noise on areas of tranquility.

The two Yorkshire national parks – the Dales and the North York Moors – and the Lake District are particularly susceptible to this problem, being surrounded by busy airports at Leeds-Bradford, Manchester, and Newcastle, plus smaller but growing air hubs like Blackpool.

Depending on wind direction, aircraft using these airports must climb or descend for hundreds of miles on take off or landing, sometimes bringing them over the national parks at low altitude.