G3: Enhancement of green and blue infrastructure
Short Description
This indicator will show changes in the quantity, quality, accessibility and, ultimately, multiple functions of green and blue infrastructure. Green and blue spaces and other natural features in and around our built environment, including within Green Belts, are part of networks of multi-functional green infrastructure, which are capable of delivering a wide range of benefits that are essential to health and wellbeing, nature, climate, water and prosperity. Green infrastructure includes land, freshwater and coastal spaces.
This indicator is being developed from two sources. The first source, led by Natural England, with Defra and an advisory group, on the Green Infrastructure Framework – Principles and Standards for England which covers both green and blue infrastructure. These standards aim to green our towns and cities, by improving existing green infrastructure provision and encouraging more investment. Green and blue infrastructure can also make an important contribution towards mitigation and adaptation to climate change. The second source is Natural England’s People and Nature Survey (PaNS) results.
Readiness and links to data
An interim indicator is presented here that is based on (a) Natural England’s updated Accessible Greenspace Standards and its England Green Infrastructure Mapping Database, and (b) its People and Nature Survey (PaNS).
The Accessible Greenspace Standards have informed the development of measures for accessible greenspace quantity and proximity, at different scales. These are measured using the England Green Infrastructure Mapping Database.
Natural England’s Accessible Greenspace Standards also include criteria for greenspace quality, including accessibility for all. The standards refer to the Green Flag criteria, which include a broad range of aspects and features of greenspace quality for individual sites. In developing a sub-indicator for G3 for greenspace quality, Natural England aimed to develop a national and high-level approach to measuring greenspace quality. Working with a group of expert representatives of non-governmental organisations in 2022, they considered the utility of data gathered by Natural England’s People and Nature Survey for a greenspace quality indicator. The resulting indicator draws on PaNS data for understanding the public’s expectations regarding green and natural space, and their perceptions of the actuality of their local greenspace and natural spaces. Summary data for these components are available in the Statistics and technical details for 2025 national indicators dataset.
Natural England and Defra updated the baseline (Version 1.1) maps of Green and Blue Infrastructure across England prior to the 2025 update of this indicator with new datasets, i.e. Version 2.1 (2022) and Version 2.2 (2024), for future analysis using the updated Accessible Greenspace Standards. The England Green Infrastructure Mapping Database Version 2.1 Method Statement provides details of the Green Infrastructure Mapping Version 2.1 (2022). The Green Infrastructure Framework Mapping Analysis provides the Version 2.2 (2024) statistical data, analysis and findings for G3a. In due course it will be published at the England Green Infrastructure Mapping Database.
Four further green infrastructure indicators are in development by Defra and Natural England. Defra is developing an Access to Greenspace in England Indicator, which is an official statistic in development and measures distance to greenspace along a network of walkable streets and paths. Defra is also developing an Access to Blue Space (waterside) dataset. Natural England is developing two further indicators linked to the Green Infrastructure Framework Standards, i.e. an Urban Nature Recovery indicator, and an Urban Greening indicator.
Outputs of new data and further analysis of the Green Infrastructure Mapping will be considered for providing additional information in the final indicator.
Indicator components
Figure G3a: Percentage of the total population in England living in close proximity of greenspace, 2020 to 2024
Table G3a: Percentage of the total population in England living in close proximity of greenspace, 2020 to 2024
| Year | Doorstep Greenspace | Local Natural Greenspace | Neighbourhood Natural Greenspace | Combined Greenspace |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 32.69 | 24.68 | 48.95 | 62.23 |
| 2022 | 33.07 | 25.00 | 48.67 | 62.24 |
| 2024 | 33.11 | 25.88 | 49.28 | 62.76 |
Trend description for G3a
Between 2020 and 2024, the proportion of the population living in close proximity to greenspace has remained relatively stable in all the categories. There are small increases in all categories, with the largest being an increase of just over 1% in the Local Natural Greenspace category. Overall, across the 3 data points currently available, results suggest that approximately:
• 1 in 3 people live within 200 metres of a Doorstep Greenspace of at least 0.5 hectares
• 1 in 4 people live within 300 metres of a Local Natural Greenspace of at least 2 hectares
• 1 in 2 people live within 1 km of a Neighbourhood Natural Greenspace of at least 10 hectares
When considered together at any year in the data, these 3 most local Accessible Greenspace Standards criteria (as set out above) allow us to form a composite picture of accessible greenspace close to home. Findings suggest that almost 2 in 3 people (62.8% in 2024) have access to greenspace as defined by one or more of the Doorstep Greenspace, Local Natural Greenspace and Neighbourhood Natural Greenspace Standards included within this indicator, and hence within a maximum 1 km radius of home.
Assessment of change
No assessment of change was undertaken for this indicator as a suitable time series is not yet available in the Outcome Indicator Framework.
Figure G3bi: Comparing Perceptions of Green and Natural Spaces Close to Where People Live with Expectations of Green and Natural Spaces More Generally, Survey Years 2020/2021 to 2023/2024
Table G3bi: Comparing Perceptions of Green and Natural Spaces Close to Where People Live with Expectations of Green and Natural Spaces More Generally, Survey Years 2020/2021 to 2023/2024
| Year | Extent of agreement with 7 statements relating to green and natural spaces generally | Extent of agreement with 7 statements when thinking about green and natural spaces close to where they live |
|---|---|---|
| 2020/2021 | 4.24 | 3.75 |
| 2021/2022 | 4.26 | 3.78 |
| 2022/2023 | 4.24 | 3.76 |
| 2023/2024 | 4.24 | 3.74 |
Trend description for G3bi
In 2023/24, the majority of adults agreed that green and natural spaces should be good places for mental health and wellbeing, provide good opportunities to see nature, be of a high enough standard to want to spend time in, be within easy walking distance, be places that encourage physical health and exercise, be good places for children to play and be good places to meet other people. Level of agreement with these statements about green and natural spaces generally has not changed since 2020/21 when the question was first asked.
However, adults’ perceptions of the green and natural spaces near where they live consistently fell short of their expectations of green and natural spaces more generally. In an index that combines the mean agreement with statements across the seven measures of what green and natural space should be, the mean agreement score was lower for green and natural spaces close to where people live with an overall mean score of 3.74, compared with an overall mean agreement score of 4.24 for green and natural spaces more generally. The maximum mean score was 5. Therefore, adults are less likely to agree that their local green and natural spaces meet these quality measures, compared to what they would expect from green and natural spaces more generally. There has been no real change in these figures since 2020/21.
Assessment of change
No assessment of change was undertaken for this indicator as a suitable time series is not yet available in the Outcome Indicator Framework.
Figure G3bii: Comparing Perceptions of Green and Natural Spaces Close to Where People Live with Expectations of Green and Natural Spaces More Generally, Broken Down by Individual Measures of Quality of Provision, Survey Year 2023/2024
Table G3bii: Comparing Perceptions of Green and Natural Spaces Close to Where People Live with Expectations of Green and Natural Spaces More Generally, Broken Down by Individual Measures of Quality of Provision, Survey Year 2023/2024
| Question | A high enough standard to want to spend time in | Good places for children to play | Good places for mental health and wellbeing | Good places to meet other people | Places that encourage physical health and exercise | Provide good opportunities to see nature | Within easy walking distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % agree with the statement relating to green and natural spaces generally | 86.42 | 80.36 | 89.61 | 71.78 | 81.81 | 88.71 | 85.10 |
| % agree with the statement when thinking about green and natural spaces close to where they live | 68.53 | 65.76 | 70.14 | 61.32 | 68.58 | 72.04 | 65.53 |
Trend description for G3bii
In 2023/2024, the proportion of adults who agreed their local green and natural spaces met the selection of quality statements about these spaces was at least 10 percentage points lower than their expectations of these spaces more generally. The greatest gap between perceptions of how local green and natural spaces actually are and expectations of what they should be like were found for the statements ‘within easy walking distance’ and ‘good places for mental health and wellbeing’. Perceptions were 20 and 19 percentage points lower than expectations for these two statements respectively. Similar but slightly smaller differences were also found for the statements ‘high enough standard to want to spend time in’ and ‘provide good opportunities to see nature’, with perceptions for these statements being 18 and 17 percentage points lower than expectations respectively. The smallest gap between perceptions and expectations (10 percentage points) was observed for the statement 'good places to meet other people'.
Assessment of change
No assessment of change is undertaken for this indicator as a suitable time series is not available in the Outcome Indicator Framework.