Theresa May reveals new 25-year environment plan with pledge to get inner city kids outdoors

Kate Proctor11 January 2018
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Thousands of inner city London children will get to experience the outdoors as part of a new multi-million pound Government investment, Theresa May announced today.

The Prime Minister said double the number of children will visit the country’s national parks on school trips.

Money will also be made available to for schools to plant new gardens and vegetable patches.

At the London Wetland Centre in Barnes today as she unveiled the Government’s 25-year environment strategy, Mrs May said: “More than one in 10 young people do not spend time in the countryside or in large urban green spaces, meaning they are denied the benefits which spending time outdoors in the natural environment brings.

“These young people are disproportionately from more deprived backgrounds and their effective exclusion from our countryside represents a social injustice I am determined to tackle.”

Theresa May and Michael Gove join youngsters at the London Wetland Centre in Barnes (Dan Kitwood/PA )
Dan Kitwood/PA

A £10 million investment in schools called the Nature Friendly Schools Programme will target children in the most disadvantaged areas of the UK. It will come from the Department for Education budget and be spent over five years.

It is hoped that schools will use the money to improve their school grounds with green initiatives which may include planting new gardens, growing vegetables or setting up bird feeders.

“It doesn’t have to be big, difficult or expensive. Whatever form it takes, it will be putting nature into the lives of young people because everyone deserves to experience it first-hand,” Mrs May said.

Plastic litters UK beaches
Getty Images

The 25-year plan also puts fresh impetus on the National Park Authority to widen access for school children from 60,000 young visitors a year to 120,000.

Reducing single-use plastics from supermarket food packaging forms a major part of the Government’s plan to make Britain a global leader on tackling plastic waste.

Theresa May bird watches with youngsters in Barnes (Dan Kitwood/PA )
Dan Kitwood/PA

The renewed emphasis on the environment is seen by senior Tories as a way of drawing back younger voters to the Conservative Party.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove said today a 25p levy on disposable coffee cups is an “interesting idea” but that it does not currently feature in the 25-year strategy.

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The recommendation by the Environmental Audit Committee dubbed the “latte levy” comes after the successful introduction of a 5p plastic bag charge led to an 85 per cent reduction in single-use plastic bag use.

Mr Gove told the BBC in a radio interview this morning: “It’s an exciting idea from the Environmental Audit Committee and it’s one we are reflecting on.” Asked again if he would introduce a charge, he said: “We will think about how it is that we can make sure that the current way in which coffee cups —which in many respects can’t be effectively recycled — what we can do in order to deal with it.”

Environmental organisations branded the overall environmental plan a missed opportunity that lacks urgency.

Greenpeace UK said that the most glaring gap in the strategy is the lack of support for deposit return schemes, which are “tried-and-tested” ways to keep plastic bottles out of the environment.

And Tanya Steele, CEO of WWF, said: “We welcome any step to reduce the plastic waste we produce, and policies like this can spur change.

“But if we really want to solve this problem, we need to think bigger and ultimately move towards an end to single-use plastics.”

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