Local problems loom large for many people

One man said: "If you're in a different environment you wouldn't talk the way you talk here, or fight the way you fight here, because the people would be different you know. Folk over here... they've no pride in the environment."

People from the rural area, in an attractive part of the UK, felt tourism gave them little.

They resented the pollution from tourists' vehicles, the rise in house prices because of the demand for commuter and holiday homes, and the switch by village shops to providing for tourists' needs.

Making the connections

They also said public transport and rising fuel costs were problems, so a policy of cutting car use simply ignored their needs.

People often accept high traffic levels

Many people in all four areas believed small-scale changes could improve their quality of life appreciably. But many also saw small problems as symptoms of more complex underlying issues.

The researchers conclude: "If sustainable solutions to local environmental problems are to be found, these wider issues need to be addressed; cleaning dirty streets and enforcing standards will not alone deliver lasting change.

"This highlights an urgent need for integrated environmental, social and economic policy."

One of the report's authors is Dr Kate Burningham, of the University of Surrey.

Start by listening

She told BBC News Online: "What we found is that things look different from the inside.

"People aren't stupid. They don't separate the environment from everything else going on around them.

"You need to start from where they are. Yet a common refrain was 'There aren't any environmental groups round here'.

"If campaigners are concerned to engage people more broadly, they do need to think about what gets them worked up."