The House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee has launched an Inquiry into Urban Green Spaces.

The Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) has been actively engaging with parliamentarians and policy-makers in calling for a greater focus and attention on the value of urban green spaces, so this news is very much welcomed. 

Jennifer Pheasey, HTA Director of Public Affairs, commented: "This inquiry by the influential EFRA Select Committee is an important opportunity for our sector to set out the evidence and crucial need we have to grow our urban green spaces. With 30 million UK gardeners and many more who love and use our green spaces, we need to ensure we maximise their value. Urban green spaces deliver huge social, economic and environmental benefits. The HTA has long been calling for politicians and policy-makers to give greater recognition of the value of environmental horticulture, not least because we deliver £28.8 billion in GDP and support 674,000 jobs in the UK. We have set out publicly a number of asks already - including establishing an Office for Green Spaces - to deliver the cross-government and joined-up policy-making we need to deliver real change."

The HTA now seeks inputs and views from members (policy@hta.org.uk) to shape its written evidence, with the deadline for submissions being 20 October. 

At its National Conference on 5 October, the HTA's Director of Public Affairs, Jennifer Pheasey, will be chairing a panel to discuss how we can maximise our urban green spaces in delivering the challenges faced - environmental, air quality, health and wellbeing. Green spaces can mean anything from small gardens to huge parks. All of which are supplied and supported by UK Environmental Horticulture.

More details on the Inquiry can be found here: https://committees.parliament.uk/call-for-evidence/3252