Evidence of green space inequity and its impacts in the UK

Last updated July 2026

At Afield we understand environmental injustice to mean a system through which global majority and low income communities are disproportionately affected by climate change and pollution, and excluded from making decisions that shape their environment. These inequities are rooted in a long history of extractivism, colonialism, and racism.

In the UK there is a body of evidence to demonstrate this injustice, particularly in relation to green space and nature. Research literature points to distributive inequality (ie. which communities have green space nearby and which do not). In addition, issues of accessibility, safety, quality, and a sense of welcome in green spaces also contribute to a second layer of inequality in UK cities. Together, these inequities have effects on community health and wellbeing.

Examples of this evidence include:

Structural Disparity: Black, Asian, and minority ethnic individuals are disproportionately concentrated in England's most nature-deprived urban neighborhoods. The Health Foundation research shows a clear correlation between minority ethnicity and a lack of neighborhood access to green spaces (see note 1).

Experiential Barriers: Research published by the University of Bedfordshire highlights that experiential and social barriers heavily deter green space usage. These include anxieties about racism, discrimination, hostile atmospheres in rural or heavily wooded areas, and safety concerns regarding unleashed dogs (see note 2).

The access gap itself. ONS analysis of Ordnance Survey and Natural England data found that in England, Black people are nearly four times as likely as White people to have no access to any outdoor space at home (eg. private garden, shared garden, or balcony: 37% vs 10%). Even accounting for age, social grade, and household type, Black people remain 2.4 times less likely to have a private garden (see note 3).

Why proximity doesn't equal access: Even when global majority communities live in close proximity to parks, they statistically visit green and blue spaces less often than the national average (see note 4). Several qualitative UK studies dig into why nearby green space doesn't translate into equal use. A Bradford study of low-income, multi-ethnic families found fear of crime, antisocial behaviour, unsafe or inadequate playgrounds, and lack of basic facilities (toilets, accessible paths) were bigger barriers than distance (see note 5). A 2025 study of an ethnically diverse community in Luton and the South East (94.5% non-white British respondents) similarly found awareness, perceived relevance, and perceived safety and quality of green spaces mattered more than just walking distance (see note 6). This disparity is driven by a lack of culturally relevant facilities and the feeling of perceived exclusion in predominantly white communities (see note 7).

South Asian communities specifically. A 2024 systematic literature review (Mohammed Hamzaet et al) focused on South Asian communities in the UK identified unequal distribution of green space, poor transport links, safety concerns, and what the authors call the "racialisation" of natural green spaces. This means that some spaces are implicitly coded as unwelcoming to non-white users, which creates further barriers alongside underlying inequalities in access (see note 8).

Health consequences. A 2016 study across ethnically diverse English cities found that access to, and use of, green space was a significant predictor of general health for groups with the poorest health outcomes (people of African-Caribbean, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and other minority ethnic backgrounds) (see note 9). A Bradford health impact assessment found that residents from lower socioeconomic backgrounds (who overlap heavily with global majority populations there) are disproportionately more likely to suffer severe health consequences and death from air pollution, noise and lack of access to green space (see note 10). Even from early childhood, research shows children from global majority backgrounds spend less time in outdoor and green space play than White children, which researchers link to compounding health inequalities over the course of their lives (see note 11).

Planning Policy Impacts: Friends of the Earth reports that planning exemptions, such as easing Biodiversity Net Gain rules for brownfield sites (requiring new buildings to increase the biodiversity compared to the site before the development), could result in a widening of this inequality, as lower income communities host a significantly larger share of the country's derelict and brownfield land (see note 12).

Notes and references