More than 60 conservation, planning, health, and professional groups have called on the government to embed nature into its ‘levelling up’ agenda, arguing that access to nature should be a legal right for everyone in the UK given its proven benefits for mental and physical well-being.
The new campaign, ‘Nature for Everyone’, is led by a coalition of conservation and business groups including the Wildlife Trusts, WWF UK, National Trust, the Institute of Environmental Management (IEMA), and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). They have all urged the government to boost access and funding for green spaces.
The campaign highlights the lack of green space access for more disadvantaged communities across the UK, and argues making equal access to thriving natural spaces should be a key measure of success for the government’s ‘levelling up’ reforms.
It follows the launch earlier this month of the government’s Levelling Up Whitepaper, which set out proposals to boost investment, infrastructure, skills, and prosperity across the North, Midlands, South West, Scotland Wales, and Northern Ireland. The Whitepaper acknowledged the role the net zero transition and an expansion of natural habitats could play in ‘levelling up’ the UK’s regional economies, but green campaign groups were left broadly disappointed at the lack of new funding and policies in support of the strategy document.
The campaigners have argued that a lack of accessible natural space is a key inequality which must be addressed if living standards are to be improved across the country.
Specifically, they called for a ‘legal right to local nature’, backed by legal duties in forthcoming ‘levelling up’ legislation for developers and public bodies to provide equal access to nature-rich green and blue spaces for everyone.
It also called for increased funding for locally-accessible and nature-rich spaces, including an extension of the Levelling Up Fund to include green and blue infrastructure projects.
Dr Richard Benwell, CEO of the UK’s largest environmental coalition, the Wildlife and Countryside Link, said better access to nature would not only improve mental and physical well-being for people, but could also draw more attention and funding towards tackling the worrying decline of nature in the UK.
He said: ‘The government says ‘levelling up’ means pride of place and equal opportunity, but for many people, this ends the moment they step out of their door.’
‘So many lives are worsened or shortened by disconnection from nature. So many could be improved by the chance to get active, get together and get in touch with nature. Unless levelling up includes a legal right to healthy local natural spaces, it will surely fail.’
A YouGov survey of over 2,000 UK adults was commissioned as part of the campaign, which found huge public demand for more access to natural spaces, particularly among those in the most deprived regions of the country.
As much as 80% of respondents said they supported the implementation of a legal right to accessing nature, with 83% saying accessible local natural spaces have become more important post-pandemic.
CEO of the Mental Health Foundation, Mark Rowland, said that connection to nature was ‘fundamental to good mental health’.
He said: ‘We are facing a double threat from significant biodiversity loss in the UK and enduring inequality in access, which is leaving millions of people with little opportunity to benefit from nature.’
‘It is not just the frequency of contact with nature that matters. The quality and abundance of nature is also vital in terms of the mental health benefits and that is why levelling up must mean delivering on nature’s renewal and a clear pathway to equitable access to nature across the UK.’
Others backing the campaign include the Association of Directors of Environment, Planning, and Transport, the Association of Local Government Ecologists, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM), and Greenpeace.
In response, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Local Communities said it welcomed the campaign and recognised ‘the huge importance’ that nature and green space have on the well-being and quality of life.