Legislate to allow nature reserve managers to close any area designated as a nature reserve, including the public footpaths running across it, for a fixed period of time on an intermittent basis. For instance this could be one year of closure for every ten years of access. This would allow animals and plants to recover from the disturbance created by people and their dogs. Since the pandemic more of us are appreciating time spent on nature reserves, so it is imperative that we preserve the very things that sustain us when we are in need. Closing reserves is possible, but reserve managers cannot close footpaths, that is why legislation would be required. Such closure would be time-limited and could be applied for and communicated to the public using the existing local planning process.
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