Only 8.8% of England is Built On: Surprised?

Forget Brexit, Britain is more than its politics

Photo by William Hook on Unsplash

The idea that England is 91.2% green space (natural, farmland, and urban green parks) might sound insane to anyone living in one of our cities or reading the latest plans for a housing estate around the corner.

But it’s true.

Scotland’s green space is relatively greater still at 97.9% while Wales’ sits at 95.8% and Northern Island’s is 96.5%.

Britain is, by all indications, a raving land of forests, fields, mountains, and parks.

Small, green and glorious

Our political situation is currently somewhat absurd and takes up more newspaper space than our buildings take up land. With new housing estates and gigantic distribution centres seemingly popping up all over the place, it sometimes feels as though we’re paving over paradise.

But that would be a perfect example of looking only at what’s occurring directly out of our windows and making sweeping judgments. Because we are not paving over paradise. This nation is utterly green.

We are monstrously lucky to live in such a small country. Traffic permitting, you could drive from Land’s End (the most westerly point right in the far south west of England) to John O’Groats (the…