In a third of local authority areas more than 70% of households don’t have access to nature within a 15-minute walk, new research finds.
A study by Wildlife and Countryside Link has revealed a ‘huge nature access gap’, which the group says could undermine the Government’s promise in January to ensure every household will be within 15 minutes’ walk of, for example, woodlands, wetlands, parks or rivers.
The report, entitled Mapping Access to Nature in England, found that in more than one in 10 neighbourhoods 90-100% of the population have no access to nature within 15 minutes’ walk.
Even within the most nature access-rich areas, only 11 out of more than 300 local authorities have 90% or more of households within 15 minutes-walk of nature.
Both rural and urban communities fall in the bottom-ten for nature access, with transport barriers a particular issue for nature access in deprived rural communities.
The most deprived communities are more than twice as likely to live in areas with a low amount of natural space per person.
Richard Benwell, CEO of Wildlife and Countryside Link, said: ‘Access to nature isn’t just an environmental issue, it’s a social justice issue. These results show that the most disadvantaged and marginalised communities are most likely to be left cut off from nature.’
Mark Rowland, CEO of Mental Health Foundation, said: ‘A lack of nature in people’s lives is a catalyst for poor mental and physical health. The fact that already deprived neighbourhoods are suffering from poor quantity and quality of nature widens the mental and physical health disadvantage gaps for these communities.’
