Data and the development of green space access policy

While government statistics in development aren’t usually the most exciting things to read, when members of the legal and access team delved deeper into the data on public access to green space, we discovered something quite staggering.

The data related to the UK Government’s green infrastructure project, which aims to ensure everyone lives within a 15-minute walk of nature to improve public health, enhance biodiversity and combat climate change. Based on these early draft figures, public access campaign groups were already lobbying on the urgent need to improve the percentage of people with access to nature.

There was a glaring omission from the types of green space that Natural England had included in its metric. The 140,000 miles of public rights of way had been completely ignored. As a result, many households, especially those in rural villages, were considered to have little or no access to green space. This seemed to be quite an urban-centric way of looking at the enjoyment of the countryside and nature; many people in rural areas would far rather enjoy a walk on rights of way than sit in a manicured public space.

The CLA team requested a meeting with representatives from the statistical team at Natural England to address the issue. At the meeting, we raised our concerns over a statistic in development that could drive future policy developments based on inaccurate and misleading data.

As a result, the publication of the statistic in development was delayed for several months while the figures were re-calibrated. The newly published statistic in development now includes accessibility to the public rights of way network within part of the options.

This gives us a fascinating insight into the reality of access to green space across England and Wales. The data contains seven different scenarios and the percentage of households who have access to green space as a result.

The first scenario incorporates a broad definition of green space to include parks and nature reserves but excludes the public rights of way network. This shows that 78% of approximately 25.8m households in England have access to green space.

When you add the public rights of way network into the mix, the percentage of households with access to green space rises to 91%. The inclusion of public rights of way in the metric had the starkest effect on rural households. Without public rights of way, 50% of rural homes would have no access to greenspace compared to 15% of urban households. When public rights of way were included, the households with no access to green space fell to 9% of urban households and 7% of rural households.

So why does this matter? It matters because policy decisions are made on the basis of government data. The last government’s Environmental Improvement Plan contained a commitment for every household to be within 15-minute walk of an area of green space. So, when statistics show poor levels of access to green space, there is a likelihood of swinging policy changes to address this.

By spotting the issue with the data and working with Natural England to amend its figures, the CLA is better able to defend its members’ interests and stave off the clamour for the implementation of new policies based on information that doesn’t show the whole picture.

To read the full report on the statistic in development, follow the link to the gov.uk website.