Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure the Access to Nature Green Paper includes provisions for increased public access to unregulated inland waterways.

The Government recognises the importance of providing access to the outdoors including blue spaces for people’s health and wellbeing. As set out in the EIP 2025, Defra committed to consulting on measures to ensure that everyone has access to nature close to home and to strengthen the public’s legal rights to access through an Access to Nature Green Paper to be published this Parliament. This includes exploring the feasibility of increased access onto unregulated waterways, and Defra is committed to working with stakeholders as this develops.