Poll reveals vast majority value countryside access

• 85% said access to the countryside was ‘very important’ (53%) or ‘fairly important’ (32%) 
• Strong support for countryside access evident across every age group, gender, region and socioeconomic background 
• 85% of Labour voters agree that access to the countryside is important

The vast majority of people in Great Britain believe it’s important to have access to the countryside close to where they live, according to new polling from countryside charity CPRE and YouGov.  

85% of those asked responded that access to the countryside was either ‘very important’ (53%) or ‘fairly important’ (32%). Strong support for countryside access was evident across every age group, gender, region and socioeconomic background.  

Strikingly, 85% of those who voted Labour in 2019 agreed that access to the countryside was important. The figure for Conservative voters was 91%.  

The Westminster government has already begun making decisions that will shape our countryside for generations to come.

We are calling on them to listen to their supporters and make good on their promises to protect the countryside – including the Green Belt – and to take action in CPRE’s core priority areas: planning system reform; affordable housing; the transition to clean energy and the need for joined-up decision making on how we use our finite supply of land. 

CPRE chief executive Roger Mortlock said: ‘The results prove the countryside is deeply important to people, whatever their political beliefs and backgrounds.  

‘The countryside is working harder than ever to address the challenges our nation faces but we’ve got to start treating our land as the finite resource that it is.

“We need a strategic, cross-government approach to land use that will help the countryside provide food and energy security, nature restoration, climate change mitigation, health and wellbeing benefits, space for new homes – and space for beauty, too.’