The countryside next door

This report looks at how agri-environment funding is distributed between Green Belt and other countryside, and concludes:

• Analysis of the geographical spread of agri-environment schemes shows spending on the Green Belt lagging behind rest of the countryside.
• Green Belt covers 12.5% of England but is the countryside next door for 30 million people – with a dense network of public footpaths, bridleways, cycle tracks, nature reserves and historic parks and gardens.
• Under-investment is damaging health and wellbeing – a relatively small increase in spending would have an outsized impact on more than half the population.