Rural Britain Needs To Be Less White

Anyone who has watched the hit Netflix show Bridgerton might have raised an eyebrow or two at the sight of an elegant Georgian England that bears little or no resemblance to the historical reality. The line-up of characters features a dramatic display of ethnically diverse characters that serves almost as a parody of the tick-box casting the BBC has recently been told to stop indulging in.

Reinventing the past for the sake of entertainment, however misleading, is one thing. Now it seems the present is to be reinvented too.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has put together plans to diversify the countryside and make it “less white”, according to the Telegraph, though perhaps it should be called the “Bridgertonisation” of rural Britain:

The plans follow Defra-commissioned reports that claimed the countryside would become “irrelevant” in a multicultural society, as it was a “white environment” principally enjoyed by the “white middle class”.

National Landscapes – previously called areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) – and their local councils have since committed to a number of diversity targets.

The Chilterns National Landscape team has set out proposals that include community outreach schemes to attract more Muslims to the area, particularly from nearby Luton.

More diverse staff will be recruited, marketing material will be produced featuring people visibly from ethnic minorities, and written in “community languages”.

Research has also been commissioned to support this work, some of which suggests that dogs should be kept under tighter control, as some groups are scared of them.

(You can read the Chilterns National Landscape report here).

Malvern Hills National Landscape said in proposals: “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).”

Nidderdale National Landscape in North Yorkshire warns that ethnic minority counties may face barriers to access, and have “concerns about how they will be received when visiting an unfamiliar place”.

Apparently, the countryside has been treated as if it was a white middle-class preserve:

Defra commissioned a report on the countryside in 2019, overseen by Julian Glover, author and former board member.

This report stated: “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.”

Defra commissioned a second report which cost £108,000. Its findings included one concern that:

…rural facilities “cater to white English culture”, namely: “Protected landscapes were closely associated with ‘traditional’ pubs, which have limited food options and cater to people who have a drinking culture. Accordingly, Muslims from the Pakistani and Bangladeshi group said this contributed to a feeling of being unwelcome.”

This follows claims made in 2024 that the British countryside is a “racist colonial” white space by the Wildlife and Countryside Link, a charity umbrella group.

The Telegraph’s piece is worth reading in full.