The Cotswolds is being looked at as a potential home for a brand new national park.

England is set to receive a new national park as part of “nature pledges” by the government which will look to provide more access and protection to the countryside.

Alongside the Chilterns and Dorset, the Cotswolds is also listed as a potential destination for the proposed park.

The plan was set out by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak with the aim of boosting access to nature ahead of the COP28 climate summit which starts in Dubai on Thursday.

Mr Sunak will attend the gathering and said protecting nature is at the “centre of our action to tackle climate change”.

The Government’s new park pledge is a commitment that was originally set out in the 2019 Tory manifesto.

This sparked a competition for a new national forest and 34 new landscape recovery projects across England.

The schemes will cover 200,000 hectares of land, including woodlands, rainforests and sustainable food production.

Two additional community forests will be created in Derbyshire and the Tees Valley.