A charity has suggested that green spaces and parks improve quality of life by \u00a334 billion. The Fields in Trust charity, which aims to protect green spaces in the UK, claims that open natural areas provide health benefits that equate to a value of around \u00a334 billion. The charity also suggests that green spaces save the NHS approximately \u00a3111 million per year.<\/p>\n
The charity has published the report to coincide with the launch of a new five-year project to protect parks and green spaces across the country.\u00a0 Rishi Sunak, parks and green spaces minister, said that these areas provide significant health benefits for \u201cthe young, the isolated and the vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u2018Revaluing Parks and Green Spaces\u2019 report suggests that each individual would need to spend \u00a3974 per year to achieve the same level of satisfaction provided by parks if open, green spaces didn\u2019t exist. This equates to a national spend of \u00a334 billion. The charity also suggests that green spaces save the NHS around \u00a3111 million per year in GP appointments alone. This figure doesn\u2019t include the cost of referrals or specialist treatment.<\/p>\n
The report has been published at a time when there is real concern for the future of green spaces. Ninety-five percent of those who work in parks don\u2019t feel that adequate funding and investment are available, and 16 percent of people are worried that there is a threat of building work taking over their local park.<\/p>\n
Fields in Trust has launched a 5-year strategy to try and protect parks and also to improve access to green spaces. The aim is to try and ensure that at least 75% of the population has access to a green space within a 10-minute walk of their home. Mr Sunak said that the UK\u2019s parks are \u201cprecious\u201d and stated that he will do everything possible to make them accessible to the population and encourage as many people as possible to reap the rewards of spending time outdoors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A charity has suggested that green spaces and parks improve quality of life by \u00a334 billion. The Fields in Trust charity, which aims to protect green spaces in the UK, claims that open natural areas provide health benefits that equate to a value of around \u00a334 billion. The charity also suggests that green spaces save […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":888008809,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[2713,2563,2714,2715],"class_list":["post-4126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-health","tag-green-spaces","tag-health","tag-parks","tag-quality-of-life"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t