The income gap between people in the South-East who live and work in the countryside and those who commute to towns and cities is the highest in England.

Wealthy commuters give the South-East the highest rural earnings yet local wages remain very low, according to the Countryside Agency.

It says the commuter belt is encroaching on rural areas throughout the region.

The annual State Of The Countryside report says the region had the least affordable rural housing.

There is also a widening gap between town and country, not helped by the slow development of high-speed internet services in many rural areas.

Duncan Mackay, the agency's South-East director, said: "While rural areas in the South-East are leading the country nationally on wage levels, it is not a true picture of the thriving region.

"Behind those figures are areas that are deprived of affordable housing for people who want to live and work in the countryside as well as a low standard of living."

According to the report, only about five per cent of the rural workforce is employed in agriculture yet about 75 per cent of land is farmed. Ninety per cent of people want to keep the countryside as it is today.

Road traffic in rural areas is expected to increase by 30 per cent by 2010 and tourism generates about £9 billion a year in the region's rural areas.