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

The British countryside is in the midst of a diversity drive after a government-commissioned report found it was too ‘white’ and ‘middle-class’.

Officials charged with managing some of the country’s best known beauty spots have laid out a series of proposals aimed at attracting minorities.

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

In the wake of the report, officials representing National Landscapes – including the Cotswolds and Chilterns – have now published a series of management plans that detail their proposals to attract more minority communities. 

The Chiltern National Landscape will launch an outreach programme in Luton and High Wycombe targeted at Muslims.

One factor stopping ethnic minorities visiting was said to be ‘anxiety over unleashed dogs’.

The Cotswolds National Landscape specifically mentioned the Defra-commissioned report and said it was now dedicated to changing its provision in an attempt to reach ‘the widest demographic’.

In its own management plan, the Malvern Hills National Landscape said: ‘Many minority peoples have no connection to nature in the UK because their parents and their grandparents did not feel safe enough to take them or had other survival preoccupations. This breaks down the oral traditions for learning.’

It added: ‘While most white English users value the solitude and contemplative activities which the countryside affords, the tendency for ethnic minority people is to prefer social company (family, friends, schools).’

The authority said it will aim to ‘develop strategies to reach people or communities with protected characteristics such as people without English as a first language’.

Nidderdale National Landscape in North Yorkshire warned that ethnic minority communities may be met with barriers when accessing their nearby countryside.

It said this could include ‘concerns about how they will be received when visiting an unfamiliar place’.

The organisation said that its plans will ‘develop more inclusive information to reflect more diverse cultural interpretation 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 without English as a first language’.

Surrey Hills management found that ‘some demographics are still under-represented in our countryside’.

Suffolk and Essex Coast Heaths raised concerns about ‘some sections of society that are under-represented when looking at the composition of visitors’.

Dedham Vale has promised to ‘identify and seek to address barriers facing under-represented and/or diverse groups which limit equal access to the Dedham Vale National Landscape’.

The 2019 Defra-commissioned report on the countryside was overseen by author and former board member Julian Glover.

It stated: ‘We are all paying for national landscapes through our taxes, and yet sometimes on our visits it has felt as if National Parks are an exclusive, mainly white, mainly middle‑class club.’

The Chiltern National Landscape will launch an outreach programme in Luton and High Wycombe targeted at Muslims

The report continued: ‘Many communities in modern Britain feel that these landscapes hold no relevance for them. The countryside is seen by both black, Asian and minority ethnic groups and white people as very much a “white” environment.

‘If that is true today, then the divide is only going to widen as society changes. Our countryside will end up being irrelevant to the country that actually exists.’

In response, the Conservative government at the time said it would ‘expand community engagement including with reference to increasing the ethnic and socioeconomic diversity of visitors’.

This also included increased outreach to other protected characteristics such as disability.

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

It found that ‘perceptions of protected landscapes as being for white people and middle-class people could be a powerful barrier for first-generation immigrants’.

Research showed ethnic minorities associate visiting countryside landscapes with ‘white culture’.

It found that they see ‘the English countryside as a white space, to which they did not belong’.

Another concern raised was rural facilities mainly ‘cater to white English culture’.

It said: ‘Protected landscapes were closely associated with ‘traditional’ pubs, which have limited food options and cater to people who have a drinking culture.

‘Accordingly, Muslims from the Pakistani and Bangladeshi group said this contributed to a feeling of being unwelcome.’

The Labour Government revealed its own targets for access to the countryside in 2025.

A Defra spokesman said at the time: ‘We will work with Government, public bodies, businesses, civil society and communities to support people engaging with nature in their own ways and encourage them to do this safely and appropriately through continued promotion of the countryside code.

‘We want to equip communities with the resources, knowledge and skills so they can respond to societal and environmental issues in their neighbourhoods.’

In 2024, a report called for dogs to be banned from parts of the Welsh countryside to help make the country ‘anti-racist’.

Labour’s devolved administration wants to end racism in the country by 2030 and ensure ‘all areas’ of public life are transformed as part of its Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan.

As part of this effort, it commissioned a report from campaign group Climate Cymru BAME to evaluate ‘racism relating to climate change, environment, and rural affairs’.

The document was roundly ridiculed for making a string of bizarre suggestions, including the introduction of ‘dog-free areas’ to make local green spaces more inclusive.