Campaign reply - EDM Right to Roam

Thank you for contacting my office. I very much appreciate you getting in touch about improving access to nature.

 

Our countryside is of great importance and it cannot be overstated just how much the scenery means to people. I fully appreciate the benefits outdoor activities can produce both physically and mentally. England has a fantastic network of footpaths and the public has the ‘right to roam’ over many areas of wild, open countryside.

 

The 25 Year Environment Plan sets out the ambition to connect more people from all backgrounds with the natural environment. Access to the countryside is provided under the Countryside Stewardship scheme’s Higher Tier and Mid Tier. The scheme funds land managers for the instalment of items to promote access, such as gates and stiles, as well as providing educational visits which offer school pupils and care farming clients the opportunity to visit farms to learn and engage with farming and the environment.

 

Ministers have introduced a new woodland supplement, Access for people, which aims to create alternative outdoor activities and further educational opportunities. The Government has also launched the Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy, which commits to increasing opportunities for children and young people to spend time in nature and get involved in improving their environment.

 

Further, I am aware that the Access to the Outdoors Commission findings were incorporated into the Spending Review. This provides more than £30 million to improve public access to green spaces and take forward a number of policy measures. These include developing the Levelling Up Parks Fund, which will create parks and green spaces on urban land which has become unused, undeveloped or neglected. The ‘Preventing and Tackling Mental Ill Health through Green Social Prescribing' cross-governmental project is working in both rural and urban locations and is helping to connect those living in cities with nature.

 

Finally, ministers have also invested £27.8 million in the England Coast Path, which will be the longest waymarked and maintained coastal walking route in the world. Natural England has revised the Countryside Code, and run a communications campaign to improve people’s understanding of the countryside and promote socially and environmentally responsible behaviours.

 

Once again, thank you for taking the time to write. If you require any further assistance, then please do not hesitate to get in touch.