A major new report part-funded by the Landscape Institute warns that England’s most deprived communities face deepening “nature poverty” and that proposed changes to planning law will make it worse.
The report, commissioned by Wildlife and Countryside Link and researched by Stack Data Strategy, was funded by the LI alongside the Woodland Trust, RSPB, CIEEM and Green Earth Developments. It maps access to nature against deprivation at neighbourhood level across England.
What the report found
The report found that more than 7.4 million people in England live in neighbourhoods with no immediate access to biodiversity. That includes 1.42 million children under 15.
The gap is not about town versus country. It is about who lives where within our towns and cities. In the most deprived fifth of neighbourhoods, 31% of people have very limited access to nature, which is nearly three times the rate in the most affluent fifth. Restrict the analysis to urban areas alone and the pattern barely shifts.
Some places show extreme divides. In Croydon, the most affluent neighbourhoods enjoy 73% biodiversity access against just 24% in the most deprived (a 48% gap), with Middlesbrough, Sandwell, and Blackburn with Darwen sitting in the same bracket.
BNG eroded by exemptions
The report shows that Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), which since 2024 has required most new development to leave nature in a better state, is being eroded by exemptions that fall hardest on these communities.
The central warning concerns a proposed exemption for residential brownfield sites of up to 2.5 hectares. Brownfield land is concentrated in deprived areas, which hold around four times more potential brownfield housing capacity than affluent ones. If those sites are excluded, thousands of homes could be built with no duty to improve local nature at all.
Carolin Göhler, President of the Landscape Institute, said: “Exempting Brownfield sites from any biodiversity enhancement requirements will hit the poorest communities the hardest, namely precisely those groups that lack greenspace most in their neighbourhoods. Recent years – exemplified by the Covid period – have taught us the value of quality greenspace for the health and wellbeing of both people and wildlife. Reducing the quality of new developments, including biodiversity thresholds, will damage long-term sustainability. It risks sowing the seeds for the slums of tomorrow, devoid of any quality green space.“
The report calls on the Government to drop the brownfield exemption, tighten the de minimis loophole, introduce a statutory Equality Impact Assessment for BNG, and commit to a five-year policy lock-in. A brownfield-first housing drive can widen the nature gap or help close it. The choice is still open.
