CANDIDATES in next month's local elections are being called on to sign a pledge that they will fight to improve people's access to nature.

The Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) is asking all hopefuls to 'work to ensure everyone has access to high-quality natural spaces'.

The Trust has suggested numerous ways councillors could do this including creating new parks, improving public transport to nature reserves and helping people in urban areas connect with the natural world.

The Vote for Nature pledge is based on the idea, expressed by Sir David Attenborough, that "no one will protect what they don't care about, and no one will care about what they have never experienced".

The Trust is also encouraging residents across the three counties to share the campaign and call on their local candidates to sign the pledge.

Nicky Warden, Public Affairs and Planning Officer for BBOWT, said:

"The pandemic proved how important spending time in nature is to people’s health and wellbeing - but it also highlighted the inequalities in access to natural green spaces. One in three people in England do not have nature near their home, with little or no green space at all in some of the most disadvantaged areas.

"Local councillors have huge power to help us with our mission to restore nature: they decide on planning applications, co-ordinate public transport, create and look after parks and design our town centres. By helping create more nature everywhere, they can also inspire people to look after our environment, in turn helping to fight environmental damage and climate change."

The Trust is calling on all election candidates to make the following promise: "I pledge to work to ensure everyone has access to high quality natural spaces".

Steps to achieve this could include:

• Ensuring one priority of new Local Nature Recovery Strategies is people’s access to nature.
• Improving public transport links and accessibility to natural spaces.
• Enhancing existing natural spaces, including ensuring council owned land is well managed for people and nature.
• Creating new parks, nature reserves and other natural spaces especially in urban areas.
• Working with others to improve access to and availability of natural green spaces.
• Working with local communities, particularly in urban centres, to deconstruct barriers that have historically excluded them from nature.

This year's local elections will take place on Thursday, 5 May, and more than 150 councillors will be elected in seven councils across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire:

• Cherwell District Council (16 seats)
• Milton Keynes Council (19 seats)
• Oxford City Council (24 seats)
• Reading Borough Council (all 48 seats)
• Slough Borough Council (14 seats)
• West Oxfordshire District Council (16 seats)
• Wokingham Borough Council (18 seats)

The Trust is also encouraging constituents to ask their candidates to sign the pledge at bbowt.org.uk/pledge-nature

Residents will also be able to find out whether a candidate has already signed the pledge by checking a register on BBOWT's website which will be updated regularly at bbowt.org.uk/get-involved/vote-nature

The pledge mission comes after BBOWT joined 60 other wildlife organisations in February calling for a new ‘legal right to access nature'.

The Nature for Everyone campaign urges the Government to include a new law in its Levelling Up plans - read our news story here.

Chief Executive of BBOWT Estelle Bailey wrote a heartfelt blog post last month, reflecting on her own childhood and explaining why she was personally backing the campaign. Read it here.