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1700836

registered interest
date	15/04/2024
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Recreation Spaces
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what data his Department holds on the number and proportion of people who have access to a good quality (a) green and (b) blue space within 15 minutes' walk of their home, by parliamentary constituency.
tabling member constituency	Suffolk Coastal
tabling member printed	Dr Thérèse Coffey
uin	21639
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/04/2024 answer text <p>The methodology and data we currently use on the number and proportion of people with access to greenspace is taken from Natural England’s Green Infrastructure (GI) Framework analysis.</p><p> </p><p>Natural England’s analyses of the total population in England living in close proximity of greenspace are based on the GI Framework’s Accessible Greenspace Standards which use buffers (straight-line distances) between home and greenspace and include three greenspace criteria:</p><ul><li>People living within 200m of a doorstep greenspace of at least 0.5ha</li><li>People living within 300m of a local natural greenspace of at least 2ha</li><li>People living within 1km of a neighbourhood natural greenspace of at least 10ha</li></ul><p> </p><p>When considered together, these three most local Accessible Greenspace Standards buffers allow us to form a composite picture of access to different sizes of greenspace within a straight-line distance of 1km from home.</p><p> </p><p>Natural England’s G3 Indicator report shows that as of October 2021, the proportions of the total population in England living within Accessible Greenspace Standards ‘criteria’ (straight line distances from the boundary of the greenspaces) are:</p><p>• 1 in 3 people live within 200 metres of a doorstep greenspace of at least 0.5 hectares.</p><p>• 1 in 4 people live within 300 metres of a local natural greenspace of at least 2 hectares.</p><p>• 1 in 2 people live within 1 km of a neighbourhood natural greenspace of at least 10 hectares.</p><p> </p><p>Our Environmental Improvement Plan commitment to ensure everyone lives within 15 minutes’ walk of a green or blue space focuses on proximity to these spaces from home. Our data gathering therefore focuses on this, rather than by parliamentary constituency.</p><p> </p><p>We are currently working to establish a robust baseline of walkability to green and blue space, including working with NE and with the Rivers Trust to create data on blue space access points. In August we will publish an official statistic in development on walkability within England to the nearest green space. This will use network analysis to calculate travel time/ distance rather than straight-line distances, and enhanced use of data on the rights-of-way network. For full details see <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fstatistics%2Fannouncements%2Faccess-to-green-space-in-england&amp;data=05%7C02%7Cpqteam%40defra.gov.uk%7C7f242f319c144c40b1fc08dc5ed77a0e%7C770a245002274c6290c74e38537f1102%7C0%7C0%7C638489526760120750%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=Q79cuo%2BdtGQS1tvXUFzsTyxX5KgVtmGD5y2J%2B2IO1vE%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/access-to-green-space-in-england</a>.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow grouped question UIN 21640 question first answered 19/04/2024 13:29:55 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey

1700838

registered interest
date	15/04/2024
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Recreation Spaces
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what methodology his Department uses to determine the number and proportion of people who have access to a good quality (a) green and (b) blue space within 15 minutes' walk of their home.
tabling member constituency	Suffolk Coastal
tabling member printed	Dr Thérèse Coffey
uin	21640
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/04/2024 answer text <p>The methodology and data we currently use on the number and proportion of people with access to greenspace is taken from Natural England’s Green Infrastructure (GI) Framework analysis.</p><p> </p><p>Natural England’s analyses of the total population in England living in close proximity of greenspace are based on the GI Framework’s Accessible Greenspace Standards which use buffers (straight-line distances) between home and greenspace and include three greenspace criteria:</p><ul><li>People living within 200m of a doorstep greenspace of at least 0.5ha</li><li>People living within 300m of a local natural greenspace of at least 2ha</li><li>People living within 1km of a neighbourhood natural greenspace of at least 10ha</li></ul><p> </p><p>When considered together, these three most local Accessible Greenspace Standards buffers allow us to form a composite picture of access to different sizes of greenspace within a straight-line distance of 1km from home.</p><p> </p><p>Natural England’s G3 Indicator report shows that as of October 2021, the proportions of the total population in England living within Accessible Greenspace Standards ‘criteria’ (straight line distances from the boundary of the greenspaces) are:</p><p>• 1 in 3 people live within 200 metres of a doorstep greenspace of at least 0.5 hectares.</p><p>• 1 in 4 people live within 300 metres of a local natural greenspace of at least 2 hectares.</p><p>• 1 in 2 people live within 1 km of a neighbourhood natural greenspace of at least 10 hectares.</p><p> </p><p>Our Environmental Improvement Plan commitment to ensure everyone lives within 15 minutes’ walk of a green or blue space focuses on proximity to these spaces from home. Our data gathering therefore focuses on this, rather than by parliamentary constituency.</p><p> </p><p>We are currently working to establish a robust baseline of walkability to green and blue space, including working with NE and with the Rivers Trust to create data on blue space access points. In August we will publish an official statistic in development on walkability within England to the nearest green space. This will use network analysis to calculate travel time/ distance rather than straight-line distances, and enhanced use of data on the rights-of-way network. For full details see <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fstatistics%2Fannouncements%2Faccess-to-green-space-in-england&amp;data=05%7C02%7Cpqteam%40defra.gov.uk%7C7f242f319c144c40b1fc08dc5ed77a0e%7C770a245002274c6290c74e38537f1102%7C0%7C0%7C638489526760120750%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=Q79cuo%2BdtGQS1tvXUFzsTyxX5KgVtmGD5y2J%2B2IO1vE%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/access-to-green-space-in-england</a>.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow grouped question UIN 21639 question first answered 19/04/2024 13:29:55 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey

1585359

registered interest
date	08/02/2023
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Recreation Spaces
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the green social prescribing projects announced in July 2020.
tabling member constituency	Chatham and Aylesford
tabling member printed	Tracey Crouch
uin	142661
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/02/2023 answer text <p>In October 2020, the Government launched a £5.77 million programme, led by Defra, aimed at preventing and tackling mental ill health through green social prescribing. The programme has already recorded over 6,000 referrals.</p><p> </p><p>The programme is being evaluated by a consortium led by the University of Sheffield, and is assessing processes, outcomes and value for money, in order to inform implementation and future policy and practice. The interim evaluation report provides us with some very encouraging findings about the success of the programme so far and is due to be published shortly. A full evaluation report will follow in June 2023.</p><p> </p><p>After the programme closes in March 2023, we will continue to take action to embed and scale green social prescribing across Government and within society.</p><p> </p><p>The Environmental Improvement Plan sets out our current policy position on green social prescribing. The Secretary of State does not plan to make any further statement.</p> answering member constituency Copeland answering member printed Trudy Harrison grouped question UIN 142662 question first answered 20/02/2023 12:31:00 answering member 4593 label Biography information for Trudy Harrison
tabling member	3950 label Biography information for Dame Tracey Crouch

1585360

registered interest
date	08/02/2023
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Recreation Spaces
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her policy is on green social prescribing; and if she will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Chatham and Aylesford
tabling member printed	Tracey Crouch
uin	142662
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/02/2023 answer text <p>In October 2020, the Government launched a £5.77 million programme, led by Defra, aimed at preventing and tackling mental ill health through green social prescribing. The programme has already recorded over 6,000 referrals.</p><p> </p><p>The programme is being evaluated by a consortium led by the University of Sheffield, and is assessing processes, outcomes and value for money, in order to inform implementation and future policy and practice. The interim evaluation report provides us with some very encouraging findings about the success of the programme so far and is due to be published shortly. A full evaluation report will follow in June 2023.</p><p> </p><p>After the programme closes in March 2023, we will continue to take action to embed and scale green social prescribing across Government and within society.</p><p> </p><p>The Environmental Improvement Plan sets out our current policy position on green social prescribing. The Secretary of State does not plan to make any further statement.</p> answering member constituency Copeland answering member printed Trudy Harrison grouped question UIN 142661 question first answered 20/02/2023 12:31:00 answering member 4593 label Biography information for Trudy Harrison
tabling member	3950 label Biography information for Dame Tracey Crouch

1582523

registered interest
date	31/01/2023
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Recreation Spaces
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to increase access to green spaces.
tabling member constituency	Watford
tabling member printed	Dean Russell
uin	136848
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/02/2023 answer text <p>The Government recognises the importance of providing access to the outdoors for people’s health and wellbeing and are working to ensure this is safe and appropriate. We committed in our Environmental Improvement Plan published this week to work across government to help ensure that everyone lives within 15 minutes’ walk of a green or blue space.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is delivering a number of policies to increase access to nature including:</p><ul><li>Working to complete the England Coast Path which, at around 2,700 miles, will be the longest waymarked and maintained coast walking route in the world. Over 2,000 miles have now been approved as England Coast Path, with nearly 800 miles already open. It will also create 250,000 hectares of new open access land within the coastal margin.</li><li>Delivering the £9m Levelling Up Parks Fund to improve green space in over 100 disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the UK.</li><li>Designating Wainwright’s coast to coast route across the north of England as a National Trail.</li><li>Delivering the £14.5m ‘Access for All’ programme, which consists of a package of targeted measures in our protected landscapes, national trails, forests and the wider countryside to make access to green and blue spaces more inclusive.</li><li>Our commitment to the provision of safe and appropriate public access in as many woodlands as possible as set out in the England Trees Action Plan. The recently published Environmental Improvement Plan reiterates our commitment to publish our ambition for improving the quantity, quality, and permanency of woodland access.</li><li>Through programmes with the Community Forests and Forestry England we are enabling creation of large scale publicly accessible woodlands near towns and cities.</li><li>We continue to support land managers to provide woodland access through our Countryside Stewardship (CS) and England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) schemes.</li><li>Under the new Environmental Land Management (ELM) offer, for woodlands, we are providing societal benefits by bringing people closer to nature, allowing long term permissive access for recreation and contributing to the rural economy.</li></ul> answering member constituency Copeland answering member printed Trudy Harrison question first answered 08/02/2023 16:15:35 answering member 4593 label Biography information for Trudy Harrison
tabling member	4812 label Biography information for Dean Russell

1258436

registered interest
date	04/12/2020
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Recreation Spaces
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing legally binding targets on widespread access to nature and green space.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Zarah Sultana
uin	125314
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/12/2020 answer text <p>Defra is currently undertaking a number of measures to improve widespread access to nature and green space. The 25 Year Environment Plan sets out our comprehensive and long-term approach to protecting and enhancing our natural landscapes in England for the next generation and to helping people improve their health and wellbeing by using green spaces. There is lots of work already ongoing to deliver on this approach, such as the National Framework of Green Infrastructure Standards for England, the Green Recovery Challenge Fund, the Green Social Prescribing Project, the Children and Nature Programme, the financial provisions of the Agriculture Act 2020 through the Environmental Land Management scheme, the England Coast Path and a new northern National Trail based on Wainwright’s Coast to Coast Walk.</p><p> </p><p>The Environment Bill will give the Secretary of State the power to set long-term, legally binding environmental targets across the breadth of the natural environment. It will specifically require the government to set at least one target each in four priority areas: air quality, biodiversity, water, and waste reduction and resource efficiency. The power to set targets will not be limited to these four priority areas. Long-term targets could be set in respect of any matter which relates to the natural environment, or people’s enjoyment of it, to drive significant improvement of the environment.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 09/12/2020 17:38:18 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4786 label Biography information for Zarah Sultana

1176163

registered interest
date	04/02/2020
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Recreation Spaces
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on ensuring that communities have a balance between green spaces and infrastructure.
tabling member constituency	Coventry North West
tabling member printed	Taiwo Owatemi
uin	12446
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/02/2020 answer text <p>The Secretary of State has had no formal discussions with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG) about balancing the provision of green spaces and infrastructure in communities in the past six months. Defra is working closely with the Ministry of HCLG on a number of projects seeking to ensure that green space and wider ‘green infrastructure’ is an integral part of communities. This includes developing revised planning guidance on open space, design guidance covering green spaces and green infrastructure standards for new development.</p><p> </p><p>The Environment Bill makes biodiversity net gain mandatory for development granted permission under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. This will mean that developments must demonstrate a measurable biodiversity net gain of at least 10% above pre-development biodiversity value. This will help to ensure that new development in England enhances the environment, contributes to our ecological networks and conserves our precious landscapes.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 10/02/2020 16:32:08 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4779 label Biography information for Taiwo Owatemi

1138134

registered interest
date	10/07/2019
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Recreation Spaces
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the merits of increasing green spaces in the UK to reduce the effect of flash flooding.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	275672
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>As set out in our 25 Year Environment Plan, this Government recognises the importance of green spaces for health and happiness as well as for environmental benefits such as sequestering carbon, absorbing noise, cleansing pollutants, absorbing surface water and reducing high temperatures. In the right place, using green spaces in towns and cities to help divert or store flood water can be beneficial, including using sustainable drainage systems such as permeable surfaces and ponds or natural flood management techniques in towns and cities as well as upstream.</p><p> </p><p>As we build more homes, preserving and creating green spaces in towns is more important than ever. We want to encourage local authorities to consider all flood management opportunities and developers to take into account all the benefits when deciding how much land to allocate as green space.</p><p> </p><p>To support this we have worked with colleagues in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to revise the National Planning Policy Framework to further encourage sustainable drainage systems, and published our Surface Water Management Action Plan which includes actions that will join up planning for surface water management and build local authority capacity. In addition, Natural England is developing a framework of national standards for green infrastructure in close consultation with stakeholders.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 15/07/2019 12:16:36 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham