The public session, held at 14:30 on Tuesday the 5th of December, will explore the environmental challenges faced by urban areas, the impacts of these challenges and the role of green spaces in combatting them.
Public Health England (PHE) estimate the NHS could save £2.1 billion in treatment costs each year if everyone in England had equal access to good quality green spaces where they could exercise. MPs will investigate disparities in access to urban green spaces and how and why the quality of urban green spaces varies geographically across the UK and will consider how to make green spaces more inclusive.
The cross-party Committee will discuss the health and community benefits that green spaces provide, including the role of green spaces in promoting exercise, how they address environmental health threats such as air pollution and the potential of green social prescribing. The session will also examine how green spaces can mitigate against climate change, their role in countering threats to biodiversity and the impacts of the growing commercialisation of urban green spaces.
Evidence will be heard from:
- Dr Mark Gush, Royal Horticultural Society Head of Environmental Horticulture
- Professor Prashant Kumar Co-Director, Institute for Sustainability at University of Surrey
- Matthew Frith, Director of Policy and Research at London Wildlife Trust
- Professor Catharine Ward Thompson, Professor of Landscape Architecture at The University of Edinburgh
- Graham Duxbury, Chief Executive at Groundwork
- Dr Elaine Mulcahy, Director and Director at UK Health Alliance on Climate Change