Majority of people in Britian believe it’s important to have access to the countryside close to where they live, according to new poll.

A clear majority (85%) of people who took part in the survey said that access to the countryside was either ‘very important’ (53%) or ‘fairly important’ (32%).

Strong support for countryside access was evident across every age demographic, gender, region, and socio-economic background.

Launched by the CPRE, the countryside charity, the survey saw over 2000 adults take part.

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The poll identified that 85% of those who voted for Labour in 2019 agreed that access to the countryside was important with the figure reaching 91% for the Conservative votes.

Chief executive of CPRE, Roger Mortlock said the results proved the countryside was “deeply important to people, whatever their political beliefs and backgrounds.”

He continued: “The countryside is working harder than ever to address the challenges our nation faces but we’ve got to start treating our land as the finite resource that it is.

“We need an approach to land use that will help the countryside provide food and energy security, nature restoration, climate change mitigation, health and wellbeing benefits, space for new homes – and space for beauty, too.”