EFRA Committee to look at green spaces for urban places: How they improve life for people in towns and cities

Evidence session

Urban Green Spaces inquiry 

Tuesday 5 December at 14.30, Committee Room 5, Palace of Westminster

Watch live on parliamentlive.tv

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee holds the first evidence session of its inquiry into urban green spaces at 14:30 on Tuesday 5 December. 

The session will explore the environmental challenges faced by urban areas, the impacts of these challenges and the role of green spaces in combatting them. 

PHE estimate the NHS could save £2.1 billion in treatment costs each year if everyone in England had equal access to good quality green spaces where they could exercise. MPs will investigate disparities in access to urban green spaces and how and why the quality of urban green spaces varies geographically across the UK and will consider how to make green spaces more inclusive. 

The cross-party Committee will discuss the health and community benefits that green spaces provide, including the role of green spaces in promoting exercise, how they address environmental health threats such as air pollution and the potential of green social prescribing. 

Dr Neil Hudson MP, Member of the EFRA Select Committee said:

“Our EFRA Select Committee looks at Government policy on the environment for both rural and urban areas. This week we start our Inquiry on Urban Green Spaces where we will look to how green spaces can improve the lives of people in towns and cities. From the physical and mental health benefits, to the scope for bringing communities together, these green spaces are so vital for our urban life.”

Tuesday’s session will also examine how green spaces can mitigate against climate change, their role in countering threats to biodiversity and the impacts of the growing commercialisation of urban green spaces.  

Witnesses

From 14.30 on Tuesday 5 December in Committee Room 5, Palace of Westminster: 

• Professor Prashant Kumar, Co-Director, Institute for Sustainability at University of Surrey 
• Matthew Frith, Director of Policy and Research at London Wildlife Trust 
• Dr Mark Gush, Head of Environmental Horticulture at Royal Horticultural Society

From approx. 15.30: 

• Professor Catharine Ward Thompson, Professor of Landscape Architecture at The University of Edinburgh 
• Graham Duxbury, Chief Executive at Groundwork 
• Dr Elaine Mulcahy, Director at UK Health Alliance on Climate Change