CYP Now - Policy context: Access to the outdoors

According to the Children’s People and Nature Survey (C-PANS) published by Natural England in February, 96 per cent of children said they spent time outside (somewhere other than their garden) at least once a week in August 2021.

Generation Wild helps children learn about nature. Picture: Generation Wild

This appears to indicate a significant shift on the trend for much of the previous decade. According to Natural England’s Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment (MENE) survey, 74 per cent of children spent leisure time outside in March 2019 according to their parents – down from 81 per cent in 2013/14.

The C-PANS survey also found that 22 per cent of children with a garden spent time in it every day in the last week, while 14 per cent spent time outside in places other than their own garden every day in the last week. Just one in 10 said they had spent time noticing nature every day in the past week but three-quarters said they had done so at least once a week.

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