Education

Finding out how things affect you is the first place to start. Knowing the background to issues and then being able to make an informed judgement is the best way to approach these matters.

Sign Petitions

Signing petitions mean that these matters will be raised to government level. A petition with 10,000 signatures will be responded to by government and a petition with 100,000 signatures will be considered for debate in parliament.

Write to your MP

MPs are responsible for government decisions and policies, including how much funding local authorities receive. They need to know that access matters are important to their voters. You can find your MP here.

The Right to roam

The majority of the English countryside is out of bounds for most of its population. 92% of the countryside and 97% of rivers are off limits to the public.

Twenty years ago this the Countryside and Rights of Way (CRoW) Act became law. It introduced for the first time a Right to Roam in England, giving people access to some of our most beautiful landscapes. It has been both highly successful and incredibly popular, yet it covers only a fraction of our countryside.

The Right to Roam should be extended to cover woodlands, rivers and Green Belt land, because these landscapes would give millions more people ready access to nature on their doorsteps.

Nature everywhere, for everyone

The pandemic proved how important spending time in nature is to people’s health and wellbeing. But it also highlighted the inequalities in access to thriving natural spaces.

One in three people in England do not have nature near their home, with little or no greenspace at all in some of the most disadvantaged areas. Ethnic minorities are twice as likely to live in a neighbourhood without nature-rich spaces.

The Government has promised to create equal opportunities and quality of life for everyone across the country through its ‘Levelling Up agenda’. To achieve this, Government will introduce new laws. These ‘Levelling Up laws” will include changes to the planning system, making this a key opportunity to secure a “right to nature” for every community.

Sign the Nature everywhere, for everyone petition.

Clear Access Clear Waters

Clear Access Clear Waters is a campaign for fair, shared and sustainable open access on water for all. It’s aim is not only to seek greater public access to water for recreation, but also to secure the protection of our natural environment.

People protect what they love, but they only love what they know. The natural world is fragile and needs our help to protect. If we are to be the first generation to hand over our environment in a better state than it was found, then our waterways must not remain shut off to all but a few.

The Clear Access Clear Waters campaign is asking for clarity of rights over access for this generation and future generations to come. The case for fair, shared, sustainable open access on water in England and Wales has never been greater.