Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs written question – answered at on 16 June 2026.
Andrew Slaughter
Chair, Justice Committee, Chair, Justice Committee
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure the Access to Nature green paper includes provisions for increased public access to unregulated inland waterways.
Emma Hardy
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
This Government recognises the importance of providing access to the outdoors and the benefits of blue spaces for people’s health and wellbeing.
As set out in the Environmental Improvement Plan 2025, Defra will explore the feasibility of increasing access onto unregulated inland waterways and will consult on this in the Access to Nature green paper to be published during this Parliamentary term. Defra is committed to working with stakeholders as this work develops.
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
A Green Paper is a tentative report of British government proposals without any commitment to action. Green papers may result in the production of a white paper.
From wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_paper
