Labour-run Wales has been told to ban dogs from parts of the countryside to help make the outdoors ‘anti-racist’.
The devolved administration has vowed to end racism in the country by 2030 and ensure ‘all areas’ of public life are transformed.
According to a report funded by the Welsh government to help steer its ‘anti-racist’ policy, dog-free zones should to be set up to make outdoor areas more inclusive.
The creation of ‘dog-free areas in local green spaces’ is one of a slate of recommendations in the evidence report, compiled by environmental group Climate Cymru BAME.
Others include creating more urban allotments where people can grow their own food and handing out grants and subsidies to students, members of ethnic minorities and asylum seekers to help them ‘commit more to environment and climate change issues’.
The taxpayer-funded report has been widely slated online and was described Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies as ‘virtual signalling nonsense’.
“This kind of outdated virtue signalling nonsense is completely out of touch with the needs of the people of Wales,’ he told the Telegraph.
“Labour is stuck on yesterday’s thinking, the kind that is being roundly rejected globally. Time to turf them out.”
The Welsh Conservatives have condemned the report as ‘outdated virtue signalling nonsense’, The Telegraph reports.
The reason behind the request for dog-free areas is not elaborated on in the report, which will be used by the government to ‘support policy teams’ that are ‘developing and implementing’ Wales’ anti-racist plans.
The climate action group was set up to support the work of the Climate Cymru wider group, which is a movement made up of 370 organisations from across Wales.
Climate Cymru BAME group consists of around 20 members made up of students and professionals who have interest in environmental preservation and protection, who work with North Wales Africa Society (NWAS), Sub Sahara Advisory Board (SSAP) and the Northwest Wales Climate Action Group.
On the basis of reports provided to date, the Welsh Government has concluded that ethnic minorities face ‘barriers’ to the outdoors created by ‘exclusions and racism’
A separate set of recommendations submitted by the NWAS also called for ‘dog-free areas’.
It added that during one of its focus groups, ‘one black African female stated that she feels unsafe with the presence of dogs’.
Others also kept ‘seeing dog fouling on the floor’, the report added.
Barriers to outdoor activities includes the perception that growing food in gardens or allotments is ‘dominated by middle-aged white women’.
The Welsh government were also handed complaints that mess and the quality of urban green spaces was a consistent issue recorded in reports of ethnic minority experiences.
One person complained that ‘the green spaces are not respected in areas where there is a bigger population of ethnic minority people’.
Other issues flagged included lack of public transport to non-urban green spaces and poor air quality in towns and cities.
In the report which was published on November 6, ‘some participants expressed apprehension about visiting the countryside owing to their racial or religious identities’.
It added there were ‘concerns of the lack of understanding and relationships by the wider white population particularly in rural areas, from personal experiences’.
The conclusion of the report was blasted by the Tories, with Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservatives, saying: ‘This kind of outdated virtue signalling nonsense is completely out of touch with the needs of the people of Wales.
‘Labour is stuck on yesterday’s thinking, the kind that is being roundly rejected globally. Time to turf them out.’
A Welsh Government spokesman said: ‘We are committed to creating an anti-racist nation by 2030. Our Anti-racist Wales Action Plan is built on the values of anti-racism and calls for zero tolerance of all racial inequality.’