The British countryside is under siege from diversity mandates that aim to transform it into a "less white environment," with officials in areas of natural beauty like the Chilterns and Cotswolds pledging to draw in more ethnic minorities under Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) guidance.

This push stems from reports warning that rural spaces risk becoming "irrelevant" in a multicultural society, dominated by the "white middle class," prompting commitments to outreach, diverse staffing, and even dog control measures to make the outdoors more appealing.

The Telegraph reports that National Landscapes—formerly Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)—and local councils have adopted diversity targets following Defra-commissioned studies.

In the Chilterns, proposals include community outreach to attract Muslims from nearby Luton, recruiting diverse staff, and producing marketing materials featuring ethnic minorities in "community languages."

Research cited suggests tighter dog controls, as some groups fear them.

Malvern Hills National Landscape stated: "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."

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)."

The area plans to "develop strategies to reach people or communities with protected characteristics such as people without English as a first language".

Nidderdale in North Yorkshire warns of barriers for ethnic minorities, including "concerns about how they will be received when visiting an unfamiliar place", and vows to "develop more inclusive information to reflect more diverse cultural interpretation of the countryside".

Cranborne Chase will also target "people or communities with protected characteristics such as people without English as a first language".

Surrey Hills notes "some demographics are still under-represented in our countryside", while Suffolk and Essex Coast Heaths expresses concerns about "some sections of society that are under-represented when looking at the composition of visitors".

Dedham Vale pledges to "identify and seek to address barriers facing under-represented and/or diverse groups which limit equal access to the Dedham Vale National Landscape".

These efforts trace back to a 2019 Defra report by Julian Glover, which claimed: "We are all paying for national landscapes through our taxes, and yet sometimes on our visits it has felt as if National Parks are an exclusive, mainly white, mainly middle?class club."