Tories shelve pledge for everyone in UK to live 15 minutes from a green space

Oh dear did they realise they'd already signed up to 15 minute cities before using the term in the culture war?

That seems like kind of an odd commitment. I mean, a canal -- which apparently counts, based on the article text -- doesn't really seem like much of an alternative to a park, which also counts. Most of the things one might do in one aren't really things that one might do with the other.

And why is it specifically a walk? I can see "within N minutes of" being a metric for how hard it is to reach it, but surely if someone can bicycle or drive or whatever, it'd be about as accessible. I used to live within walking distance of a beach, but we tended to drive to another that was nicer and more-convenient.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Ministers have also scrapped an idea to make the target for access to nature legally binding, a freedom of information request submitted by the Right to Roam campaign shows.

But in response to a freedom of information request, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “No assessment has yet gone to ministers on options for how to progress towards the commitment.”

The documents reveal that the government rejected the idea of making the target legally binding, meaning it does not have to fulfil its promise.

Guy Shrubsole, from the Right to Roam campaign, said: “A year after making their access commitment, ministers still have no idea how on earth to meet it.

And having rejected setting a legal target for increasing access, the government is clearly only interested in spinning good headlines rather than improving the nation’s health and wellbeing.

“Work is ongoing to develop an approach to monitoring and evaluating our vital commitment that every household should be within a 15-minute walk of a green space or water.”

The original article contains 424 words, the summary contains 171 words. Saved 60%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

I'm interested where this 38% are? I've lived mostly in cities and there's always some sort of green space within 15 minutes. Obviously rural people are sorted. Is this small modern towns?