Access-to-nature crisis ‘on par with that of Victorian Britain’s filthy air’ — SkimNews
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- Wildlife Trusts research, conducted with Liberal and Democrats for Nature and Climate, found 238 English constituencies (44% of the total) have at least 20% of local properties more than a 15-minute walk from green or blue space, with seven of the 10 most economically deprived constituencies falling into the low-access category.
- Matthew Browne, the Wildlife Trusts' head of public affairs, compared the access crisis to Victorian Britain's filthy air and water, saying it requires the same urgency that drove a historic programme of public park-building.
- The Wildlife Trusts' green paper to ministers calls for five specific measures: cheaper compulsory purchase powers for local authorities, a community right to buy land for nature, treating nature as essential infrastructure with dedicated maintenance capital, mandatory climate- and nature-friendly housing from developers, and a statutory right of access to major rivers.
- Dom Higgins, head of health and education at the Wildlife Trusts, cited evidence that pregnant women's blood pressure is lower near accessible parks and that children who spend more time in nature-rich spaces have healthier lives, framing nature access as a health necessity in an era of climate-driven extreme weather.
- A public consultation of 5,000 people, carried out by the trusts after England's hottest summer on record in which cities hit 38C, found respondents actively seeking out cool natural spaces during heatwaves, with people with long-term health conditions describing access to greenspace as 'incredibly important.'
- The UK government has yet to publish its own access-to-nature green paper — promised for last autumn following Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs expert workshops in spring 2024 — while a government spokesperson pointed to nine new National River Walks, a Coast-to-Coast route and the 2,700-mile King Charles III England Coast Path as action already underway.
Why it matters: With the government's own green paper a year overdue, the Wildlife Trusts is effectively publishing ministers' policy homework for them, and the stakes are concrete: seven of the 10 most economically deprived English constituencies — already the least equipped to handle extreme heat — are simultaneously the most nature-poor, locking cooling-space inequality directly into the postcode.
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