The vast majority of people in Great Britain believe it’s important to have access to the countryside close to where they live, according to new polling from CPRE, the countryside charity and YouGov.
85% of those asked responded that access to the countryside was either ‘very important’ (53%) or ‘fairly important’ (32%).
Strong support for countryside access was evident across every age group, gender, region and socioeconomic background.
Strikingly, 85% of those who voted Labour in 2019 agreed that access to the countryside was important. The figure for Conservative voters was 91%.
The government has already begun making decisions that will shape our countryside for generations to come.
‘The results prove the countryside is deeply important to people, whatever their political beliefs and backgrounds.
‘The countryside is working harder than ever to address the challenges our nation faces but we’ve got to start treating our land as the finite resource that it is.‘We need a strategic, cross-government approach to land use that will help the countryside provide food and energy security, nature restoration, climate change mitigation, health and wellbeing benefits, space for new homes – and space for beauty, too.’
ROGER MORTLOCK
CPRE chief executive
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