UK launches a new drive to turn the countryside "less white” and reduce dog population

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The British countryside is in the midst of a diversity drive after a government-commissioned report found it was too 'white' and 'middle-class'.

Officials charged with managing some of the country's best known beauty spots have laid out a series of proposals aimed at attracting minorities.

The plans follow a review, ordered by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), which warned the countryside was seen as 'very much a white environment' and risked becoming 'irrelevant' in a multicultural society.

In the wake of the report, officials representing National Landscapes - including the Cotswolds and Chilterns - have now published a series of management plans that detail their proposals to attract more minority communities.

The Chiltern National Landscape will launch an outreach programme in Luton and High Wycombe targeted at Muslims.

One factor stopping ethnic minorities visiting was said to be 'anxiety over unleashed dogs'.

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In its own management plan, the Malvern Hills National Landscape said: 'Many minority peoples have no connection to nature in the UK because their parents and their grandparents did not feel safe enough to take them or had other survival preoccupations. This breaks down the oral traditions for learning.'

It added: 'While most white English users value the solitude and contemplative activities which the countryside affords, the tendency for ethnic minority people is to prefer social company (family, friends, schools).'

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