Green spaces in Great Britain provide £16.5 billion in environmental, health and amenity value per year, with planning playing a direct role in delivering that value. Of course, there is always a balance between providing access to green spaces and building new housing, but that’s exactly why planning is important. Planning is about protecting, enhancing and promoting access to green infrastructure and biodiverse ecosystems and ensuring that development does not adversely affect important habitats and species.

Low-income households typically have poorer physical health, higher incidences of moderate or severe mental illness, and face financial barriers to accessing alternative exercise facilities such as community centres or membership-based gyms. Providing access to high quality green spaces through planning can make a real difference to mental health, and it’s why many planners feel now more then ever that this is a top priority for the profession.