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5 December 2023 - Urban Green Spaces - Oral evidence

Committee Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Inquiry Urban Green Spaces

Tuesday 5 December 2023

Start times: 2:00pm (private) 2:30pm (public)


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Green spaces for urban places: How they improve life for people in built-up areas

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.

Meeting details

At 2:00pm: Private discussion
Inquiry Urban Green Spaces
At 2:30pm: Oral evidence
Inquiry Urban Green Spaces
Co-Director, Institute for Sustainability at University of Surrey
Director of Policy and Research at London Wildlife Trust
Head of Environmental Horticulture at Royal Horticultural Society
At 3:30pm: Oral evidence
Inquiry Urban Green Spaces
Professor of Landscape Architecture at The University of Edinburgh
Chief Executive at Groundwork
Dr Elaine Mulcahy, Director and Director at UK Health Alliance on Climate Change

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. 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.

Location

Room 5, Palace of Westminster

How to attend