Recently, the Trust has been asking people about the role of green places in their lives - how they are used and what they mean to people.
© NTPL / Joe Cornish
A brief breakdown of findings:
Green places are used regularly by most people. Approximately half of people surveyed visit a park more than once a month and around 3 in 10 people visit wild green places, woodland, and riversides or canals more than once a month.
Coastline, beaches, parks and wild open spaces are the most highly valued, while wild open spaces and woodland areas are considered to be most at risk. Our survey also showed that allotments are growing in importance - thanks to the popularity of growing your own veggies.
The top three reasons why people appreciate green places are:
- They offer plenty of fresh air and space.
- They are great for relaxing.
- They offer lots of opportunities to spot wildlife.
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'Green place poverty'
Our survey revealed that whilst green places are important for everyone, many people have access to just two or fewer green places:
- One in four people living in urban areas suffer from green place poverty
- One in eight of all people living in England, Wales and Northern Ireland suffer from ‘green place poverty’.*
- Young people under thirty are also more likely to be missing regular contact with the natural world as part or their daily lives, with one in five with access to two or fewer green places within easy reach of their homes.
* We looked at how many people were living in ‘green place poverty’, which was measured against the following criteria - access to two or fewer green places = green place poverty, three to six green places = average, seven or more green places = green place affluence.
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So what does the future hold?
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