Green and pleasant land?

[rik_uk3]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18623096

Interesting article on our green and pleasant land.

[Biker]

Interesting. But I can't help wonder if they cooked the books somehow. I mean 98% of the UK may be green and pleasent, but it doesn't give a figure for how much of it is in incorporated into private estates and land that you will be charged with trespass if you walked on it.

Still a warm and fuzzy feeling though to know that they haven't completely "paved paradise and made put up a parking lot."

[British Red]

Struck me as absolute twaddle tbh "of course not urban space is built on" - forgetting the counter measure of "not all rural space is not built on"

It is an indisputable fact that the UK is the top 20% of most densely populated countries and climbing the table.

[rik_uk3]

True Red, but we do still have some nice places in the UK, not all doom and gloom and not as crammed as some would have you believe.

[blacktimberwolf]

Difficult to believe..................65 million people living on only 2% of the land......I don't suppose they included individual houses scattered about in their calculations nor the hundreds of housing estates that spring up like mushrooms...... flowered roundabouts & the bit of rough grass behind out of town Tescos were probably counted as green spaces..
Just over 1 % of GB is covered in roads anyway .....

[British Red]

True Red, but we do still have some nice places in the UK, not all doom and gloom and not as crammed as some would have you believe.

Very true - but equally true that the role of the English countryside is to provide food - not to be a leisure park. There are some exceptions in the National Parks etc. but the idea that the countryside is for urban dwellers and that

it simply tells us we really should get out more.

is daft.Look what happened to Loch Lomond! I'm all for responsible use of footpaths etc., but this strikes me as a piece of political posturing.

[rik_uk3]

Very true - but equally true that the role of the English countryside is to provide food - not to be a leisure park. There are some exceptions in the National Parks etc. but the idea that the countryside is for urban dwellers and that

is daft.Look what happened to Loch Lomond! I'm all for responsible use of footpaths etc., but this strikes me as a piece of political posturing.

You been watching those conspiracy documentaries again Red?

[British Red]

Nope - but a nice "we aren't really over crowded are we" piece - under the BBC "News" heading. Can you point me to something that is "News" in that piece - rather than some dodgy statistics, opinion and one mans opinion?

I fail to see the News?

[789987]

you need the "right to roam" down there. give all the deprived urban youth a chance to exercise their animals properly.

[wattsy]

Interesting. But I can't help wonder if they cooked the books somehow. I mean 98% of the UK may be green and pleasent, but it doesn't give a figure for how much of it is in incorporated into private estates and land that you will be charged with trespass if you walked on it.

Still a warm and fuzzy feeling though to know that they haven't completely "paved paradise and made put up a parking lot."

you can only be charged with trespass if you cause damage. 'right to roam' has opened up a lot more land for public access too

[Harvestman]

So, 98% of England is not built on. That's great, I'll just go for a walk and...

"Oi! You! Get orf moi land!"

I think there's a technical hitch here somewhere...

[oldtimer]

So how come I can't find anywhere to pitch my tent when I'm walking the footways of southern England?

[Mick w.]

A hell of a lot of England is farmland though, which is hardly 'wilderness' is it? Field after field after field.... yeah, great!

[Cpt-Jack]

So how come I can't find anywhere to pitch my tent when I'm walking the footways of southern England?

I think you just answered your own question there. Trying heading further north, preferably far north of the border. We a drove through a small chunk of the Highlands last year, the amount of vast, open and unspoilt space up there is quite overwhelming, we are so used to enclosed fields and villages every couple of miles. Anyone who says there are no wild areas left in the UK have clearly never travelled very much around ths country.

Ill give credit to the UK, despite our very high population, we have actually done a pretty good job of retaining many of our green spaces and natural areas. We are decidedly better than a lot of other countries in the world.