Labour Mp for Nottingham East Nadia Whittome discusses the need to access green spaces.
Access to nature is vital to human health and well-being. Studies show that green spaces actively lower stress levels, improve our moods, encourage social connection, and increase health and child development outcomes. In the UK, 80% of people live within walking distance (fifteen minutes) of green or blue spaces such as a river, park or woodland. However, in some parts of the country, fewer than 20% of residents live close to these spaces.
This is a problem for many of us here in Nottingham too. Analysis of recent government data by the Wildlife Trust found that, despite being home to fantastic parks like the Arboretum, Colwick Country Park and Woodthorpe Grange Park, Nottingham East is the third most nature-starved constituency in the country, with only 43% of properties situated within fifteen minutes of a green or blue space.
During the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, many of us realised how important it was to have access to nature. Those who lived in flats without gardens or balconies were confined indoors, except for a daily allowance for outdoor exercise. It also became clear that people from poorer households and from ethnic minority backgrounds had disproportionately worse access to local green space. Research conducted in 2020 by The Ramblers, a UK walking charity, found that only 57% of people surveyed lived within five minutes’ stroll of a local park, field or canal path. This number fell to 46% for households with incomes under £15,000, and just 39% for people from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Official data unfortunately confirms this disparity. In 2020, Friends of the Earth analysed government data and found that 28% of people living in the most deprived neighbourhoods live in the 10% of neighbourhoods with the least access to green space. They also revealed that almost 40% of people of BAME backgrounds live in England’s most green space-deprived neighbourhoods, compared to 14% of white people.
Less affluent areas also face the threat of green-space cuts amid new development. New research warns that under the government’s planned law changes to speed up housebuilding, poorer areas could lose the most green spaces, meaning that already nature-deprived communities risk being left behind even more. While I whole-heartedly support the building of more affordable housing, which is desperately needed, we must also ensure that as we do so we continue to protect nature and our access to it.
The natural world should belong to all of us, and the more familiar we are with our local environment, the more likely we are to want to protect it for decades to come
I believe everyone should be able to access nature within a short walk of their home, so I’m glad that in its Environmental Improvement Plan last year, the government reiterated its commitment to tackle nature poverty and ensure that everyone has access to a green or blue space within a fifteen-minute walk. Campaigners hope the government will soon launch a consultation on the issue – I will be keeping a close eye and pushing them to do so.
There are many creative ways to add green and blue spaces to local areas. We can convert neglected carparks into pocket parks and community gardens, or create urban ponds and wetlands to boost local wildlife. We can also plant native trees along pavements to increase shade cover, install flower beds for pollinators, and reduce hard concrete surfaces where they are unnecessary to improve flood prevention and lower the urban heat island effect. We must also ensure that green spaces – and in general, all our public areas – are safe and properly maintained. Too often the parks that could do the most good for our communities are the ones that have been let down by neglect.
In Nottingham, the city council is taking important steps to keep expanding and improving our green and blue spaces. In recent years, it has been part of the partnership that built the Colwick Fish Pass, improved footpath accessibility in Woodthorpe Grange Park, and is involved in the major transformation of the sports pitches and buildings at the Forest Recreation Ground. In 2024, the council also opened the Green Heart: an urban nature space, on the site of the old Broadmarsh shopping centre. The council’s Parks for People programme also aims to deliver significant greenspace improvements over the next three years.
Alongside access to nature, there is also the growing issue of tree cover and the right to shade during increasing spells of hot weather. In the UK, wealthier areas are more likely to have greater tree cover per person – neighbourhoods with the highest income levels have more than double the tree cover by population than less affluent neighbourhoods. In England, regional differences also exist, with the ten local authorities with the highest scores in the south and the ten with the lowest scores in the north. Analysis by Friends of the Earth also shows that 83% of neighbourhoods in Nottingham East have less than 20% tree cover, which is about average in comparison to other urban areas in the UK, but falls well below the European average of 30%. As our climate changes rapidly, we must adapt to ensure tree cover keeps us cool as temperatures rise and helps protect the local environment.
People also face barriers to accessing nature when they travel outside of our city. In recent years, campaigns like Right to Roam have been advocating for expanded public access to the countryside and private land, highlighting that the public has no access to over 92% of the English countryside, 75% of riverbanks, and 73% of woods. I believe we should work towards a Scottish-style right to roam: a law that gives people a right of responsible access, provided they act responsibly by leaving no trace and respecting landowners’ privacy. Beyond the physical and mental benefits of having the right to roam, it is politically important to challenge the concentrated wealth and power of the small percentage of individual and corporate groups that have captured the British countryside.
The natural world should belong to all of us, and the more familiar we are with our local environment, the more likely we are to want to protect it for decades to come.
We have a favour to ask
LeftLion is Nottingham’s meeting point for information about what’s going on in our city, from the established organisations to the grassroots. We want to keep what we do free to all to access, but increasingly we are relying on revenue from our readers to continue. Can you spare a few quid each month to support us?
