Environment Bill

Written evidence submitted by the Ramblers (EB26)

Environment Bill: Public Bill Committee

Executive summary

We face a climate emergency, catastrophic nature loss, rising obesity levels, a mental health crisis and widening health inequalities. Protecting and enhancing the places we love to walk and improving people’s access to the natural world should be a crucial part of our response to these challenges. The Environment Bill is a critical opportunity, not only to strengthen environmental protections and improvement, but to improve access to and engagement with the natural world.

Our paths and green spaces encourage people to get active, boost wellbeing and encourage positive action to protect the environment. Yet, access to nature and green space is not equal for all. During the passage of the Environment Bill, the Ramblers is looking for a clear government commitment to introduce legally binding targets for access to the natural environment. This would be an important step towards prioritising action to address unequal access to green space and the inaccessibility of parts of our nation’s green assets, including the public rights of way network.

Key messages

There is much to welcome in the Bill, including the introduction of a framework of legally binding environmental targets. The Ramblers’ would like to see the Bill strengthened to deliver:

(i) Targets for access to the natural environment

The Bill should be strengthened to (a) require government to introduce targets relating to people’s access to the natural environment, and (b) give the introduction of targets in this area greater priority and certainty.

(ii) Stronger environmental protections

To protect where people love to walk for generations to come, the Ramblers supports calls from Greener UK and Wildlife and Countryside Link for:

- Improvements in the framework for environmental targets to ensure they are enforceable and ambitious (Part 1, Clauses 1 – 6).

- The bill must to be amended to include a binding commitment so that standards cannot be weakened in the future (Part 1, Clause 19).

(iii) National leadership on active travel

To make walking the natural choice for everyday journeys and improve pedestrian safety, the Ramblers supports the call from Cycling UK [1] to strengthen requirements for government to set, and regularly report against, road traffic reduction targets.

About the Ramblers

As Britain’s largest walking charity, the Ramblers helps everyone to enjoy the freedom of the outdoors on foot. We are committed to supporting Britain’s walkers and to protecting access to the places people love to walk. Our volunteers help make this possible: from leading walks and clearing footpaths, to organising local action to protect and expand the places people go walking.

1. Strengthening the Environment Bill to improve access to the natural environment

1.1. Overview

We welcome provisions in the Bill to introduce a new framework of environmental targets. This requires the Secretary of State to introduce long-term targets in four priority areas: air quality, water, biodiversity, and resource efficiency and waste reduction. However, the Bill only enables the Secretary of State to introduce long-term targets for "people’s enjoyment of the natural environment". As this is not a requirement, it makes action by the current and future government uncertain. Furthermore, the extent to which people enjoy the natural environment does not necessarily equate to their ability to access or engage with it – an important distinction and one that is critical to encourage more pro-environmental behaviours and deliver a host of benefits for society.

1.2. Amendment

The Bill should be amended so that it:

(i) Promotes access to the natural environment (Clause 1 (1.b))

The Bill enables the Secretary of State to set long-term targets in relation to "people’s enjoyment of the natural environment". This should be expanded to refer "people’s enjoyment of and access to the natural environment".

(ii) Givers greater priority for targets to connect people to nature (Clause 1 (2 &3))

The Bill requires the Secretary of State to set at least one long-term target in four priority areas (air quality, water, biodiversity, and resource efficiency and waste reduction). The Ramblers would like to see similar priority given to the introduction of targets around "people’s enjoyment of and access to the natural environment".

We would not expect to see specific targets for access to the natural environment included within the Bill itself. We do believe though that a commitment from government to develop targets for public access, through an amendment to the legislation, would ensure this area received a more appropriate degree of focus and resource over the longer term.

1.3 Example target areas

The government should work with stakeholders, including organisations representing user groups, to develop targets on public access to the natural environment. As an example, these could be structured around three key areas:

- Proximity to high quality, accessible green space. Access to green space is not equal and many communities live in green poverty. This impacts on physical health, mental health and wellbeing, and long-term health outcomes. The Environment Bill is an opportunity to establish a framework for joined-up action on green poverty at all levels of government, with ambitious targets and clear requirements for reporting.

- Accessibility of the public rights of way network. The public rights of way network is the primary mechanism for accessing the countryside, and an important green asset. However, stretches of the network are not well-maintained and accessibility varies. A clear targets framework could greater clarity for the direction of financial assistance delivered under the Environmental Land Management scheme (introduced by the Agriculture Bill) and shape local plans to improve access and mobility, such as Rights of Way Improvement Plans (ROWIPs) and Local Cycling and Walking Investment Strategies (LCWIPs).

- No net loss of public access. Infrastructure, development and other changes in land use (for example, woodland creation) can have a negative impact on public access to the outdoors. A national public access target – particularly if supported by a ‘public access duty’ on public bodies and developers – could help to protect these rights. Following net gain principles, this should commit to no net loss of access rights and apply across open access land (designated under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000) and the public rights of way network.

1.4 Rationale

The Environment Bill is a once-in-a generation opportunity to protect and improve the natural world. To deliver this, we need ambitious, joined-up legislation that considers environmental governance, protection and improvement alongside public access to, and engagement with, nature. In the past, environmental policy has too often considered these areas in isolation, limiting long-term benefits – including the promotion of pro-environment behaviours – and wider impact on government objectives such as health improvement.

Enshrining in the Environment Bill a requirement for legally binding targets relating to people’s access to, and engagement with, the natural environment will help support the delivery of multiple policy objectives across government, including:

- The 25 Year Environment Plan sets out the government’s ambition to connect people to nature and increase engagement with the environment. The accompanying outcome indicator framework is designed to measure progress in engagement with, and caring for, the natural environment.

- The Agriculture Bill will introduce a new system of financial support for farmers via the Environmental Land Management scheme. The public goods for which farmers and land managers can receive payments include improvements in public access.

- The new green infrastructure standards being developed by Natural England provide revised guidelines around proximity and quality of green space.

- National Capital Committee recommendations to government that returns on investment in the environment are high where these are delivered alongside improvements in public access.

- The Landscapes Review, commissioned by the government, recommends long-term programmes to increase the diversity of visitors to the countryside to boost health.

- The Walking and Cycling Investment Strategy, designed to decrease reliance on the car and promote the benefits of active transport – a central part of achieving net zero targets.

1.5 Engagement with the natural environment – key facts

- Time in nature boosts pro-environmental behaviours. People who spend more recreational time in natural settings are more likely to report engaging in a range of pro-environmental behaviours (European Centre for Environment and Human Health at the University of Exeter, 2020 [2] ). 85% of adults in England and Wales believe that being able to experience the countryside is important for children’s understanding of the environment and food production (Ramblers/YouGov).

- Health benefits of green space. More than eight out of ten adults believe that visiting the countryside is good for their physical fitness and mental wellbeing (Ramblers/YouGov). People who live within 500m of accessible green space are 24% more likely to meet 30 minutes of exercise levels of physical activity (House of Parliament, 2016 [3] ).

- Time in nature is important to the public. 94% of people agree that having open green spaces close to home is important (Natural England, 2019 [4] ) – and there is a very strong relationship between the amount of green space around a person’s home and their mental wellbeing, life satisfaction, happiness and self-worth (Newcastle University et al, 2019).

- Access to nature and the outdoors is unequal. Children in lower income areas – and people from black, Asian and other minority ethnic backgrounds – have the poorest access to green space and are less likely to spend time outdoors (Natural England, 2015 [5] ). The most affluent 20% of areas in England have five times the amount of green space of the most deprived 10% (PHE/IHE, 2014 [6] ).

 

Conclusion

We welcome efforts to improve the quality of the environment. Wherever we walk, experiencing richer, cleaner, more biodiverse environments is good thing. However, the Bill misses a unique opportunity to better connect people to nature – critical in fostering a sense of belonging to, and responsibility for, the places where we live, work and play. The Bill must be strengthened to require legally binding long-term targets to increase people’s engagement with and access to the natural environment.

March 2020