WAVES lapping lazily at your feet at Sandbanks, serene walks through Bournemouth Gardens, relaxing rambles on Canford Heath - all paint a peaceful picture of Poole and Bournemouth.

Well don't be fooled - according to new research by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), the conurbation is one of the least tranquil places in the country.

It is worse than Merseyside, worse than Bristol, worse even than Manchester.

The CPRE used factors such as noise, development and physical surroundings to come to their conclusions.

And Poole finished a lowly 73rd on the tranquillity table of 87 local authority areas, with Bournemouth floundering at 78.

The CPRE findings come as Conservative MP John Penrose puts forward a bill to Parliament to measure tranquility and attempt to secure it for future generations.

Annette Brooke, Liberal Democrat MP for Mid-Dorset and North Poole, has offered her support for the bill but admitted her surprise at the area's low ranking.

She said: "The quality of life for people is so important and we must do more to maintain it.

"We have a lot of work to do to keep the area as such a great place to live and work."

The CPRE's report comes just a month after Bournemouth was also revealed to be the noisiest resort in the country.

Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood feels the town's surprisingly poor results are a consequence of rapid development.

He said: "I hope it will be a sober reminder to the council about the quality of life and not just housing.

"We rely on tourism, and tranquillity is an important aspect of our lives not being taken seriously."

However, Bournemouth noise and environmental law specialist Lionel Fynn has insisted there is already ample provision in place to prevent encroachment on our tranquillity.

He maintains with the current laws and planning restrictions available, the last thing needed is more red tape.

"It's absolute nonsense," said Mr Fynn.

"If you go into a planning office they are chock-a-block with bureaucracy about development and noise restrictions.

"The current system is perfectly adequate.

"Those who want to object to a development can do so, and there already so many hoops to go through."

Mr Fynn also questioned Bournemouth's poor showing in the league table, as well as the town's recent appearance at the top of the noise league.

He said: "Bournemouth is not a noisy town.

"If you go and put a noise meter on Bath Hill you can go away and say it is a noisy town.

"But you need to do it over different days and times because it is difficult to get a snapshot.

"Bournemouth has very little industry and lots of beaches and gardens where there is no noise at all."

The CPRE also used extensive surveys of what adds to or detracts from people's experience of tranquillity.

Sights and sounds of nature scored highly for offering serenity, while traffic seems to indicate a stressful and hectic environment.

Every 500m by 500m square in England has been given its own tranquillity score.

CPRE chief executive Shaun Spiers said tranquil places contributed to both our mental and physical health, as well as quality of life.

"It's hugely valuable for all of us, wherever we live, to be able to get away from it all into the countryside," he said.

"Real protection for tranquillity is urgently needed to defend it permanently and, where we can, to improve on what we have."