Every child in Britain must spend a night under the stars because far too many have lost touch with nature, a major government review has advised.

In a report for the Department of the Environment (Defra), author and editor Julian Glover said encouraging greater use of England’s National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty would make the public happier and healthier.

He warned that many inner-city children never get the opportunity to visit the countryside or see the night sky lit up with stars.

Writing in The Telegraph, Mr Glover said: “The bleak truth is that while many of us live in, visit and enjoy our countryside, for many of our fellow citizens it is a distant and unknown place.

“It’s shocking that many children grow up today never having left towns and cities at all - which is why as part of the proposals in today’s review we call for every child in England to get a chance to visit and spend a night under the stars.

“If the call of the curlew, the swirl of bats at dusk or the sight of a red squirrel is to be something other than a legend future generations tell of the past, then we need radical change now. Nature is in crisis and things such as bird numbers and insect life are crashing fast.