‘Sadness’ of 8m people more than 15-minute walk from green area

With a new UK record of people not working due to long-term sickness, it is sad that nearly eight million households in England do not have access to parks, woods, rivers or any natural environment within a 15-minute walk of their home, says a green energy expert.

The Office for National Statistics reported recently that more than two and a half million were not working because of health problems.

Midlands environment expert Ron Fox said that the government had promised in January this year that everyone would be no more than a quarter of an hour away from a natural area as part of its flagship plan to improve the environment.

Thérèse Coffey, the environment secretary, said she was “particularly pleased” by the pledge because the pandemic had highlighted inequalities in access to nature.

“Studies have shown that time spent in nature is important to people’s health, yet the government has yet to spell out how and when this goal will be achieved,” said Ron, of Noreus Ltd on the University of Keele Science Innovation Park.

New research by an alliance of green groups, the Wildlife and Countryside Link (WCL), found that in a third of local authorities more than 70 per cent of the population were more than a 15-minute walk from a natural space.

The group includes the National Trust, the Council for the Preservation of Rural England (CPRE), and the Ramblers, who said that figure is equivalent to about 7.8 million homes without nature near their home.

“It is unacceptable that a third of us live in polluted, nature-deprived areas at great cost to their mental health and wellbeing,” says Ron.

Local authorities in London and the East Midlands top the list of places with low access to nature. The City of London is worst, followed by South Holland in Lincolnshire and Fenland in Cambridgeshire.

The report found that being in a rural area was no guarantee of nature being accessible, because of private land and a lack of rights of way in some places. Some public spaces in the countryside can only be easily accessed by car, the authors found.

The report also found that deprived communities were less likely to have natural spaces near their homes with almost half of the most deprived areas, 46 per cent, having the least amount of natural space per person.

These groups want the government to address what they call the “nature access gap” with an amendment to the levelling-up bill to make local planning authorities sort out these inequalities in access.

In reply, a spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said they already had a number of measures in place, including the Levelling-Up Parks Fund which will improve the condition and availability of green space for more than100 urban communities.

Ron said another important aspect for personal health was to ensure your own home was a healthy place to live by improving indoor air quality, recycling hot water and even installing pollution eating roof tiles.

If you want any advice on these green solutions and more ideas contact Ron on  0845 474 6641.

Caption: Out of reach – nearly eight million households in England are more than a 15-minute walk away from a park.