Diversity drive to make Britain’s countryside more welcoming to minorities after report found it was ‘too white’ and ‘middle class’

Rural Britain is in the midst of a diversity push after a government report found it was too ‘white’ and ‘middle class’.

Officials tasked with managing some of the country’s best-known beauty spots have drawn up a series of proposals aimed at attracting minorities.

The plans follow a review by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), which warned that the countryside was seen as a ‘largely white environment’ and risked becoming ‘irrelevant’ in a multicultural society.

Following the report, officials representing National Landscapes including the Cotswolds and Chilterns published a series of management plans detailing their proposals for attracting more minority communities.

Chiltern National Landscape is to launch an outreach program targeting Muslims in Luton and High Wycombe.

One of the factors preventing visits from ethnic minorities was said to be ‘concern about off-leash dogs’.

The Cotswolds National Landscape made particular reference to Defra’s report and said it was now committed to changing its provision in order to reach the ‘widest demographic’.

Malvern Hills National Landscape said in its management plan: ‘Many minority people in the UK have no connection with nature because their parents and grandparents did not feel safe enough to take them in or had other survival concerns. This breaks oral traditions about learning.’

He added: ‘While most white British users value the solitude and contemplative activities that the countryside offers, ethnic minority people tend to prefer social companionship (family, friends, schools).’

The official said it would aim to ‘develop strategies to reach people or communities with protected characteristics, such as people whose native language is not English’.

Nidderdale National Landscape in North Yorkshire has warned that ethnic minority communities may face barriers to accessing nearby countryside.

He said this could include ‘concerns about how you will be received when you visit an unfamiliar place’.

The organization said its plans would ‘develop more inclusive information to reflect more diverse cultural interpretations of the countryside’.

Cranborne Chase National Landscape, which overlaps Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire and Somerset, said it aims to ‘reach people or communities with protected characteristics, such as people whose first language is not English’.

Surrey Hills management found that ‘some demographic groups are still under-represented in rural areas’.

Suffolk and Essex Coast Heaths expressed concern that ‘some sections of the community are under-represented in terms of visitor composition’.

Dedham Vale has pledged to ‘identify and seek to address barriers faced by under-represented and/or diverse groups that restrict equal access to the Dedham Vale National Landscape’.

Defra’s 2019 report on the countryside was overseen by author and former board member Julian Glover.

It was stated: ‘We all pay for national landscapes through our taxes, but sometimes on our visits we were left with the feeling that the National Parks were an exclusive, mostly white, mostly middle-class club.’

Chiltern National Landscape to launch outreach program targeting Muslims in Luton and High Wycombe

The report continued: ‘Many communities in modern Britain feel that these landscapes are of no relevance to them. The countryside is seen as a largely “white” environment by black, Asian and minority ethnic groups, as well as white people.

‘If this is true today, then the gap will widen further as society changes. Our countryside will become irrelevant to the country that actually exists.’

In response, the then Conservative government said it would ‘expand community engagement to include increasing the ethnic and socioeconomic diversity of visitors’.

This also included increased support for other protected characteristics, such as disability.

Defra has spent £108,000 on a second report in 2022 titled ‘Improving the ethnic diversity of visitors to England’s protected areas’.

It turns out that ‘the perception that protected areas are oriented towards whites and the middle class can be a strong barrier for first-generation immigrants’.

The research showed that ethnic minorities associate visiting rural landscapes with ‘white culture’.

The research found that they viewed the ‘English countryside as a white space to which they did not belong’.

Another concern voiced was that rural facilities often ‘appeal to white British culture’.

The following statements were made in the statement: ‘Protected areas were closely associated with ‘traditional’ bars, which had limited food options and catered to people with a drinking culture.

‘Accordingly, Muslims from the Pakistani and Bangladeshi group said this contributed to the feeling of not being welcome.’

The Labor government is announcing its own targets for rural access by 2025.

A spokesperson for Defra said at the time: ‘We will work with government, public bodies, businesses, civil society and communities to support people who look after nature in their own way and encourage them to do so safely and appropriately through the continued promotion of the countryside code.

‘We want to equip communities with the resources, knowledge and skills to respond to social and environmental challenges in their neighbourhoods.’

A report published in 2024 called for a ban on bringing dogs into rural Wales to help the country become “anti-racist”.

Labour’s devolved administration wants to end racism in the country by 2030 and transform ‘all areas’ of public life under the Wales Anti-Racism Action Plan.

As part of this effort, a report was commissioned from BAME campaign group Climate Cymru to assess ‘racism in relation to climate change, the environment and rural issues’.

The document was widely ridiculed for making a number of outlandish proposals to make local green spaces more inclusive, including introducing ‘dog-free zones’.