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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to promote access to nature in cities.

The Government's 25 Year Environment Plan made major new commitments to connect people with the environment to improve health and wellbeing, including access to green spaces in urban areas.

Work undertaken includes the Green Recovery Challenge Fund which has invested £80 million to nature-based projects across England to support a green recovery from Covid-19. The fund has "connecting people with nature" as one of its three objectives, and many of these projects are working in urban areas. An example of one of the projects delivered is Green Space for Health, which aims to make NHS sites greener and provide outdoor wellbeing sessions for NHS staff.

We are leading a £5.77 million cross-Governmental project to test nature-based social prescribing in seven test and learn sites, run national research work to understand its scalability, and deliver a robust project evaluation. This will help improve mental health and wellbeing by connecting more people to nature. The project is working in both rural and urban locations and will help connect those living in cities with nature; for example, several of the test and learn sites are in and around cities such as Greater Manchester.

We are also investing £9 million through the Levelling Up Parks Fund to regenerate 100 green spaces across the UK as part of our Levelling Up agenda. Further details on the Fund will be announced shortly.

Natural England's England-wide map of green infrastructure launched in December 2021, as part of the emerging Green Infrastructure Framework, will help local areas identify priorities for creation and enhancement, including to address inequalities in access to greenspace. The full Framework to be launched later this year will include a green infrastructure design guide with advice on designing to promote access and to maximise the benefits that access provides. This will work alongside biodiversity net gain to encourage greater inclusion of nature into our cities and built environments.

The England Trees Action Plan committed to treble tree planting rates in England by the end of this Parliament, supported by the Nature for Climate Fund (NCF) which has more than £750 million by 2025 for work on peat restoration, woodland creation and management. Through the NCF the Government is also increasing tree planting in urban areas. Local authorities have access to several NCF grant schemes, including the £4.4 million Local Authorities Treescape Fund and the £6 million Urban Tree Challenge Fund (UTCF). Over the next two years, the UTCF fund will provide up to £6 million for planting around 44,000 large trees in towns and cities. Meanwhile, the Local Authority Treescapes Fund will increase tree planting and natural regeneration in local communities, including urban areas and beside roads and footpaths.