COUNTRY campaigners have produced a bleak vision of Cheshire's countryside in 30 years unless action is taken to save it.

The warning follows a report from the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) which revealed 21 square miles of countryside is developed across England each year.

Richard Bass, chairman of Cheshire CPRE, said: "Given current trends, our beautiful, diverse and tranquil countryside could be a shadow of its former self by the time today's toddlers have young children of their own.

"But it is not too late to change those trends."

Mr Bass said huge changes would see areas currently thought of as rural land swallowed up into vast city regions, creating tremendous pressure to release green belt land for development.

He added: "But this is much more than just development. It is also about the uncertainties surrounding farming and the certainty of climate change.

"We have to fight to protect the countryside. Once we have lost it, it is too late to be sorry."

But Clr Andrew Needham, Cheshire County Council's environment supremo, pledged the county council would continue to do everything possible to protect the county's 'green and pleasant land'.

He said: "Cheshire County Council policies are directed at preserving the countryside and quality of life we all cherish. Those policies make it a priority that new housing and businesses should be developed on sites that have been developed before."

Clr Needham said Cheshire has a full range of policies which provide a protective framework for 'green land,' including those to conserve and enhance the natural environment and also to provide mitigation measures for any unavoidable loss due to development.

Designated landscape areas - upland, valley, parkland and coastal areas - are protected.

Currently the county is in the middle of a £9.4million rural recovery programme, which is helping to create and safeguard jobs, provide learning opportunities, create new businesses, refurbish workspace and improve skills.

Clr Needham added: "All these projects are designed to protect and enhance Cheshire rural heritage and will help to ensure that as much of our countryside as possible remains unchanged."

l Is the countryside surrounding our towns worth fighting for?

Or do you think there are other more pressing issues to which we can devote our time, energy and resources?

Is the pressure to build homes and businesses on our green belt land increasingly difficult to resist?

Are jobs and affordable homes more important than cows and grass?

No matter what your views are, we would like to know what you think.

You can write to the Guardian at 15 Market Street, Northwich, Cheshire, CW9 5DT or email us at northwich@guardiangrp.co.uk.