Category Archives: Access to green space

Three-quarters of children want more time in nature, says National Trust

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Charity publishes survey findings as it calls for youngsters to be no more than a 15-minute walk from green spaces

More than three-quarters of children want to spend more time in nature, the National Trust has found, as the conservation charity pushes ministers to ensure youngsters are no more than a 15-minute walk from green spaces.

Nearly two-thirds – 63% – of parents are able to take their children to nature spaces only once a week or less, citing accessibility as the main barrier, the survey of 1,000 children aged seven to 14 and 1,000 parents by the trust and the children’s newspaper First News found.

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Children living near green spaces ‘have stronger bones’

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Bone strength is set in childhood so better park access could prevent fractures in older people, study finds

Children with more green space near their homes have significantly stronger bones, a study has found, potentially leading to lifelong health benefits.

Scientists found that the children living in places with 20-25% more natural areas had increased bone strength that was equivalent to half a year’s natural growth.

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Giving city dwellers access to nature is key aim, says National Trust

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Charity to bring its gardens to urban areas to allow nature-deprived communities access to green spaces

Bringing glorious gardens and green space to nature-deprived people in cities is one of the National Trust’s most important roles, its head has said.

Maintaining some of the most famous country houses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland has long been thought of as the trust’s central purpose, but the charity is aiming to bring its gardens to urban areas to increase access to nature, with an urban garden planned for Chelsea flower show that will model a pocket park that can be copied and rolled out across towns and cities.

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New nature reserve to act as ‘green beating heart’ for Norwich

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Sweet Briar Marshes has been created in heart of city with fewer public footpaths than any other in England and Wales

Hidden between a hectic ring road, a chemicals factory and housing estates are 36 hectares (90 acres) of “a green beating heart, pumping nature” into the surrounding city.

Traffic noise and sirens are muffled by ancient oaks, while late-season dragonflies sweep over hawthorns laden with blood-red haws as a kestrel hovers, head down, searching for field voles hiding in the tufty grasses.

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Swimmers poised for biggest mass trespass so far at Kinder reservoir

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Sunday’s event in Peak District will mark anniversary of Kinder Scout protest, seen as crucial in establishing right to roam in UK

Up to 1,000 swimmers are expected to head to Kinder reservoir in Derbyshire on Sunday in the biggest trespass of the water to date. The turnout will mark the anniversary of a mass trespass that helped establish the principle of the right to roam in the UK.

The swim trespass of Kinder reservoir, situated below Kinder Scout where the 1932 protest took place, has become an annual event and is growing rapidly with the boom in wild swimming.

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Farmers will be key to plan to restore England’s green spaces and wildlife

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Environmental improvement plan includes many ambitious pledges but hard-pressed agricultural sector will need effective support

It has taken years of campaigns and mass trespasses for the government to put access to green space in England at the top of its agenda, as it has today in the environmental improvement plan.

During the pandemic, the importance of nature for our physical and mental wellbeing became ever more apparent – as did the inequality in access, with the poorest in society less able to access green space.

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Every household in England ‘to be within 15 minutes of green space or water’

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Major environmental plan includes tackling sewage spills and restoring wildlife habitats but critics question lack of funding

Every household will be within a 15-minute walk of a green space or water, under a major environmental improvement plan for England set out by the government on Tuesday.

The long-awaited measures will include commitments to restore at least 500,000 hectares (1.2m acres) of wildlife habitat, and 400 miles of river. This will include 25 new or expanded national nature reserves and 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) of new woodland along England’s rivers. A new species survival fund will target some of the most threatened wildlife, including hedgehogs and red squirrels.

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Thousands march across Dartmoor to demand right to wild camp

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More than 3,000 people protest on estate of Alexander Darwall after his court victory ends right to wild camp in England

More than 3,000 people joined one of the UK’s largest ever countryside access protests on Saturday on the Dartmoor estate of a wealthy landowner who won a case ending the right to wild camp in England.

Groups of walkers, families, students and local people arrived by foot, shuttle bus and bike to the small Dartmoor village of Cornwood throughout the morning and then thronged for hours along moss- and ivy-draped lanes up on to the rugged, boulder-strewn moorland owned by the Conservative party donor and hedge fund manager Alexander Darwall.

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Rewilded former golf course in Cheshire to be transformed into woodland

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Frodsham golf course joins growing number of sites being put to new, more community friendly use

It was once an immaculate golf course where footballers such as Michael Owen and Dietmar Hamann teed off.

These days, the only holes are those made by badgers and woodpeckers. Instead of golfers, self-sown silver birch saplings march over the greens.

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Lizard Downs in Cornwall protected for public use after 140 years

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Open Spaces Society secures re-registration of 116 hectares of ‘splendid’ moorland’ for common use

More than 100 hectares of some of the most stunning landscape in west Cornwall has finally been recognised as common land, protecting it for the public 140 years after it was threatened with enclosure.

Lizard Downs was authorised for enclosure – the act of taking ownership of common land – in 1880 but the proposed fencing off never happened.

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