UK wildlife campaigners call for legal right to access nature for all

Visits to urban parks and other green spaces nearly doubled in the decade before the pandemic. Photograph: Woodland Trust/PA

Everyone in the UK should be legally entitled to equal access to nature, wildlife campaigners will tell the government.

Communities and NGOS would have the ability to take local authorities to court if they failed to provide healthy green space, under plans set out by more than 60 nature, planning, health and equality organisations. They argue that despite the fact there is strong evidence that accessible, nature-rich spaces boost our physical and mental wellbeing, and reduce mortality, one in three people in England cannot access nature near their home.