Everyone to live 15 minutes away from Green Space and Water in England

I live a 10 /15 minute walk to the Fields and same for Water. I enjoy being out in the wide open spaces , others have told me how they find walking next to water is calming .
Do you live close to Green space or Water will it make a difference to you if the plan goes a head ?

We have a canal at the back of our house and green space next to it.
Loads of fields and walks in my area too.
It is very calming for sure.

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In theory I think this is terrific, how green space and water is defined is open to interpretation I suppose.
Some years back we organised a litter picking event,it wasn’t a great success but hey ho!

If people/communities can come together and make change then I’m well up for it :+1:

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Yes it can be just a green park and a lake , something that injects calmness in a busy city , it will bring in the Birds and animals and make for a relaxing lunch break away from work.

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On the one hand:

Ministers have pledged that everyone will live no more than a 15 minute walk from a green space or water as part of a five-year environmental plan. The Government will also crack down on leaky lavatories and “confusing dual flush buttons” in a bid to meet targets for water, air and land. Environment Secretary Therese Coffey is set to unveil the measures on Tuesday.

Councils will be challenged to improve air quality more quickly and tackle major pollution hotspots. There is also a pledge to transform the management of 70 per cent of the countryside by incentivising farmers to adopt nature-friendly practices.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said protecting the environment was “fundamental to the health, economy and prosperity of our country”. He added: “This plan provides the blueprint for how we will deliver our commitment to leave our environment in a better state than we found it, making sure we drive forward progress with renewed ambition and achieve our target of not just halting, but reversing the decline of nature.”

Ms Coffey said: “Nature is vital for our survival, crucial to our food security, clean air, and clean water as well as health and well-being benefits. We have already started the journey and we have seen improvements. We are transforming financial support for farmers and landowners to prioritise improving the environment, we are stepping up on tree planting, we have cleaner air, we have put a spotlight on water quality and rivers and are forcing industry to clean up its act. ”

On the other hand:

Environmentalists have condemned the plan as a “road map to the cliff edge”.

Dr Doug Parr, of Greenpeace UK, said: “If this is a road map, it’s a road map to the cliff edge. Here’s yet more paperwork containing a threadbare patchwork of policies that fail to tackle many of the real threats to our natural world. This won’t do. Ministers want to crack down on dual flush toilets while letting water firms pump tonnes of raw sewage into our rivers and seas. Until we see immediate action (from) this Parliament to ban industrial fishing in all our marine protected areas, reduce industrial meat and dairy farming and ramp up protections across a bigger network of national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty, we’re in real danger of UK nature going into freefall.”

Paul de Zylva, of Friends of the Earth, said that “on closer inspection it seems that many (of the measures) are just rehashed commitments the government is already late on delivering – and it’s unclear how others, such as ensuring everyone can live within a 15 minute walk of green space, will actually be met. There’s also a big emphasis on improving air quality which is completely at odds with the government’s £27bn road building agenda, raising serious questions over whether councils are being set up to fail.”

Details have yet to be revealed but, despite billions being needed, my guess is that only millions will, eventually, become available:

The plan includes a multi-million pound Species Survival Fund to protect rare species, from hedgehogs to red squirrels, is promised along with a pledge that Government support schemes will help 65 to 80 per cent of landowners and farmers to adopt nature friendly farming practices on at least 10 to 15 per cent of their land by 2030.

They are also to be helped to create or restore 30,000 miles of hedgerows a year by 2037 and 45,000 miles of hedgerows a year by 2050.

The restoration of 400 miles of river through the first round of Landscape Recovery projects and establishing 3,000 hectares of new woodlands along England’s rivers is also promised.

:grinning: Well I might have known you would make it more than the question I asked which was

Do you live close to Green space or Water will it make a difference to you if the plan goes a head ?.

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why not move all companies out of London and their staff into places like Devon or Yorkshire. Pull down the buildings in London and create one huge park for the people around living in the suburbs. .Let the available land in those and other counties get more populated as the government want to “level up”
Wales also woud be a target for large commercial development with hundres of firms moving in and the housing to go with it. :roll_eyes: :+1:

Water…

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Until 5 years ago, I lived on the edge of a large village with immediate access to two small “parks” and easy access to cultivated farmland with designated walkways. Within 15 minutes I could be in uncultivated countryside. Within 45 minutes I could be tramping the fells.

The village has since been inundated with thousands of “new-builds” on the cultivated farmland and a new “A” road built to allow the commuters easy access to the nearest city. Hundreds of “new-builds” have appeared on the edges of every village in the county in the uncultivated countryside. In neither case has any allowance been made locally for the thousands of vehicles which have now appeared on unimproved roads making an excursion onto “B” roads an adventure with potholes. Access to ancient walkways has been denied by the siting of the “new-builds”. Getting to the fells now takes 90 mins since the amount of traffic has doubled - if there’s an RTC anywhere in the country then I just turn back before the inevitable traffic congestion builds (usually within 15 minutes).

Before the “new-builds”, there were pools-aplenty but now they’ve mostly been filled-in. The local river has been diverted and covered in many places. I used to be able to get to the Lake District (plenty of water still there) in an hour but anything less 2 hours is a rarity because of traffic conditions.

IMO, the plan may go ahead but its implementation will not match its promises as house-building will take precedence and green spaces will disappear in the urban sprawl of five-car families.

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Good post Omah , In Nottingham a Shopping Centre was demolished , well half was before the company went bust, we are now left with an Eyesore on entry from the south of the city , No money is forth coming ,
survey to the public asking what we would like and the answer was GREEN space not a lot of cost I would guess compared to building another Shopping Centre , But a Green space wont bring money in for the Labour City Council which is selling off some of its buildings to bring money in to Balance its book …

My guess is the Space will be sold off to a property Developer, and maybe more Student accomadation will be built with perhaps a Macdonalds, and other take aways …

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That’s the way of it, sadly … :slightly_frowning_face:

We have no green space here since land sold to developers. Fields and hedgerows gone completely and no infrastructure such as doctors etc included. House demand so high property prices shooting up so no chance for first time buyers. I don’t think there is any more land around here for developers to get their hands on

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I think it’s a great idea .
Everyone should have access to a green space and water is so calming .
Fortunately I live within easy walking distance of both .

Maybe you could move? We have green fields and yellow fields:

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Not if they move London businesses to there

Yes, I suppose. But I think that is maybe changing. My field is/was electrical engineering. Much of the work was me producing detailed quotations, all requiring detailed responses. Pretty much that was on line. I didn’t need to go to the office, usually once a week. That’s how things have changed - at least for me and, I suspect, for many others.

10 minutes walk for me if I want to go straight up. Dartmoor is at the top of the hill. Can’t do it now, but I used to & horse ride up there, that was less tiring for me, the horse did it, sadly no horse now. We do have a river within walking distance, but again a hilly walk there & back. Guess I’ve got used to travelling everywhere in my Daughters car, before I have to walk & that’s usually to shops or a car boot sale.

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I had in my mind Dartmoor was flat, didnt realise it was so hilly .

You might the Dartmoor ponies.

I presume London still has the “Green Belt” but I do recall my brother commenting as we looked out over Sydney from my son’s flat that Sydney was very green.

You have to remember that Sydney sprawls, I read somewhere years ago that if the UK had the same population density as Sydney then the whole of the UK would be dwellings there would be no room for factories or farming. I don’t know if that is still true, a lot of the quarter acre housing blocks have been divided up but there is a cost involved in these green spaces.

Opposite me two blocks like mine now hold nine townhouses. One of them is currently for sale for $700,000

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