Research published in 2022 by the University of Sheffield and Flinders University ranked town and city centres for greenness by analysing open spaces and tree cover.
York was just outside the top ten in 13th place, but Newcastle (44th) and Sunderland (50th) were in the lower half of the table.
Middlesbrough had one of the least green town centres in the country, rated 64th out of 68.
But even in areas where green and blue spaces are easy to get to, people may not use them because of access issues or concerns about safety and anti-social behaviour.
Labour’s Baroness Hayman, the Minister for Biosecurity, Borders and Animals, said: “One of the things we can do with local communities is to understand what the barriers to access to nature are.
“Sometimes it’s distance, sometimes it is other things, like culture.
“We did a heat map of one urban area where it showed that even people living close to a park didn’t use it.”
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is expected to release a Green Paper detailing ideas to meet the 15-minute commitment in the coming months.
