THE Campaign to Protect Rural England published a rather strange survey this week.

This survey, or "health-check", illustrated the point that England's small market towns were in danger of losing their character and hence their special qualities.

The survey was strange in that it was based upon the subjective views of CPRE members and other like-minded organisations such as civic societies. It records Middleton St George as a town and suggests that Saltburn is in County Durham.

Putting matters of detail and objectivity aside, the CPRE nevertheless has a good point. The threats to market towns are much more complex than a few years ago when our Market Town Revival campaign pinpointed out-of-town retail developments as the key issue.

The survey refers to a "creeping blandness" and "loss of distinctiveness" caused by national chain shops selling nothing local, new developments not incorporating local materials, massive housebuilding and the growing problem of traffic congestion. Notably, the two towns in North Yorkshire which the survey picks out as having preserved their special character - Easingwold and Guisborough - both enjoy the benefit of bypasses.

Returning to Middleton St George, the village in County Durham that is, the CPRE may have inadvertently got it right. The village has grown so rapidly in recent years, its population may now entitle it to town status, or at very least dormitory town status.

The CPRE right calls for greater care in planning the development of our small towns so that they do not simply become dormitories for our cities. It suggests that local employment must be encouraged so that market town provide jobs as well as homes. The tendency for our towns close to the A1 and A19 to become dormitories for Teesside, Tyneside and Leeds is now well established in North Yorkshire and County Durham. It should be resisted.