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New guide to help land managers welcome visitors: A Space for Everyone

A new guide is published by The Wildlife Trusts today to help land managers across the UK improve outdoor places for visitors called, A Space for Everyone: A good practice guide.

The guide has been made possible thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery. It is aimed at anyone who looks after publicly accessible land such as nature reserves, walking trails, lakes, and rivers – from local councils to recreational site managers and nature charities to university campuses. 

It includes practical steps that can be taken to make places easier for people to visit and enjoy. Inspiring case studies are described, as are links to other research and resources that show how other organisations have made their spaces more accessible. 

Guidance includes: 

  • Know before you go information – such as the virtual tour provided by Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust’s Gibraltar Point Nature Reserve
  • Ensuring a warm welcome – such as the guidance from Sport England to support the design and operation of safe and inclusive sports and leisure facilities
  • Operating guided tours and group visits – such as the resource provided by Sense to help plan and deliver an accessible sensory walk 

The Wildlife Trusts are a federation of 46 charities that welcome well over 15 million people to their 2,600 nature reserves and visitor centres every year. They have drawn on the expertise of many other organisations to create the new guide, including Natural England, RSPB, Groundwork UK, Ramblers and Leeds University.  

Miriam Bentley-Rose, head of equality, diversity and inclusion at The Wildlife Trusts, says: 

“We’ve published this guide because we want everyone to be able to enjoy being outdoors in wild places – and to be inspired to get involved in nature’s recovery. Our research has uncovered many great examples of inclusive volunteering, staff training, partnership working, creating warm welcomes and site adaptations to support specific groups of people from all walks of life. We’ve included these in our new guide so that all land managers can benefit from these inspiring case studies and expertise.” 

Laura Chow, Head of Charities at People’s Postcode Lottery, says:  

“It's fantastic that support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery has helped make this important guide possible. Nature should be for everyone, and by supporting practical tools like A Space for Everyone, players are helping to break down barriers so that more people can enjoy and benefit from the natural world. Whether it’s a first-time visitor to a nature reserve or a family returning to a favourite walking trail, these kinds of improvements ensure that everyone feels welcome, included and connected to nature.” 

Read A Space for Everyone: A good practice guide

Editor's notes

The Wildlife Trusts 

The Wildlife Trusts are making the world wilder and helping to ensure that nature is part of everyone’s lives. We are a grassroots movement of 46 charities with more than 910,000 members and 39,000 volunteers. No matter where you are in Britain, there is a Wildlife Trust inspiring people and saving, protecting and standing up for the natural world. With the support of our members, we care for and restore over 2,600 special places for nature on land and run marine conservation projects and collect vital data on the state of our seas. Every Wildlife Trust works within its local community to inspire people to create a wilder future – from advising thousands of landowners on how to manage their land to benefit wildlife, to connecting hundreds of thousands of school children with nature every year. www.wildlifetrusts.org 

Players of People’s Postcode Lottery have raised more than £27 million for The Wildlife Trusts. Funds are awarded by the Postcode Planet Trust. https://www.postcodelottery.co.uk/  

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