Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help (a) wheelchair users and (b) people with limited mobility to access the countryside.

The Government recognises the importance of providing access to the outdoors for people’s health and wellbeing and is continuing to deliver projects which will increase access to and engagement with nature. This includes work to ensure that the countryside is accessible to everyone, including those with disabilities.

For example, are delivering the £14.5m ‘Access for All’ programme, which consists of a package of targeted measures in our protected landscapes, National Trails, forests and the wider countryside to make access to green and blue spaces more inclusive. More than £3.5m has already been spent on making our protected landscapes more accessible, including on: resurfacing paths; replacement of stiles with accessible gates; new benches and resting stops; accessible viewing platforms and the provision of new all-terrain trampers to support disabled people to access the countryside.

We are also making the King Charles III England Coast Path (KCIIIECP) as accessible as possible and have considered disability from the start in our development of the new Coast to Coast (C2C) National Trail.

Specifically, ways in which the KCIIIECP and C2C are being created to maximise their accessibility include:

• Removal of stiles wherever possible;
• Replacement of infrastructure with more accessible alternatives wherever possible e.g. replacing kissing gates with gaps or wicket gates;
• Signposting of step-free or more accessible alternative routes;
• Creating a British Sign Language version of promotional videos for launches of new stretches of National Trails;
• Developing the C2C using a package of measures to realise long term benefits such as maximising access links for people with limited mobility, horse riders, cyclists; identifying and developing links to communities; developing circular paths; development of community engagement; information provision.