Guidance

Forestry Commission’s historic environment opportunity map for new woodland

Updated 29 May 2025

Applies to England

© Crown copyright 2025

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/historic-environment-guidance-for-forestry-in-england/forestry-commissions-historic-environment-opportunity-map-for-new-woodland

Find out about areas in England that may be suitable for new woodland, based on historic environment information.

You can also read the historic environment guidance for forestry in England.

About the historic environment opportunity map

The historic environment opportunity map for new woodland shows where in England you might be able to plant new woodland while protecting historic features.

The map sorts land into different ratings to show the potential suitability of land for woodland creation while acknowledging areas of uncertainty due to data availability.

The map helps land managers, foresters, and decision-makers in considering woodland creation from a historic environment perspective.

You should consider:

  • that this map only considers historic environment factors
  • the ratings don’t guarantee approvals for woodland creation proposals

You should also contact your local historic environment service about woodland creation proposals and in certain circumstances you may need to contact additional organisations. Find out when to notify historic environment organisations about forestry proposals.

Summary of the map

The map shows where creating new woodland in England may be more or less suitable from a historic environment perspective.

It divides England into 25 metre by 25 metre grid squares and classifies them. It identifies places where new planting is either:

  • favourable
  • neutral
  • unclassified
  • unsuitable

You can use this map as a starting point when planning new woodland. However, other factors will also affect your planting plans.

The map was created using:

How land is classified by opportunity ratings

The opportunity ratings are as defined:

  • favourable - areas deemed suitable for new woodland based on available historic environment data
  • neutral - areas deemed neither favourable nor unfavourable for new woodland  based on historic environment data. Proposals in these areas will require additional consideration on a case-by-case basis
  • unclassified - areas where no opportunity rating has been assigned. This means no historic features are currently recorded and the presence of SHINE data suggests a reasonable level of confidence in that absence
  • unclassified (No SHINE supplied) - areas where no opportunity rating has been assigned; this reflects a lack of recorded historic environment data, and no conclusions can be drawn about the presence or absence of historic features
  • unsuitable - areas deemed unsuitable for new woodland based on available historic environment data

Unclassified areas may be suitable or unsuitable for new woodland. To better understand these areas, contact the local historic environment service in accordance with the UK Forestry Standard (UKFS) and Historic Environment guidance for forestry.

Where to access the map

You can download the historic environment opportunity map for new woodland from:

It can also be viewed using:

The map is Open Data and is covered by the terms and conditions of the Open Government Licence.

Spatial datasets used in the map

The datasets included in each opportunity rating are as follows:

Favourable

  • Lost Historic Woodlands (ArchAI/Forestry Commission) – AI-identified areas of woodland shown on early 20th-century Ordnance Survey mapping which have since been lost.

Neutral

  • Historic Parklands (Zulu Ecosystems) – AI-identified parkland depicted on early 20th-century Ordnance Survey maps
  • World Heritage Site Core (Historic England) – core areas of World Heritage Sites, as designated by UNESCO
  • World Heritage Site Buffer (Historic England) – buffer zones surrounding World Heritage Sites, as designated by UNESCO
  • Ridge and Furrow (Low) (ArchAI) – AI-identified areas of less well-preserved historic ridge and furrow from LiDAR data

Unclassified

  • HER Boundaries (SHINE supplied) – areas where SHINE data has been supplied by local historic environment services
  • HER Boundaries (No SHINE supplied) - areas covered by local historic environment services where SHINE data has not been supplied

Unsuitable

  • Historic Landscape Characterisation (HLC) (local historic environment services) –selected landscape types from regional datasets that provide information on the historic character of the landscape
  • Scheduled Monuments (Historic England) – protected archaeological sites of national importance
  • Scheduled Monuments Buffer – 20 metre buffer surrounding Scheduled Monuments (UK Forestry Standard historic environment guideline 8)
  • SHINE data (local historic environment services) – national dataset of non-designated heritage assets
  • Registered Parks and Gardens (Historic England) – parks and gardens designated as being of particular significance
  • Registered Battlefields (Historic England) – battlefields designated as being of particular significance
  • Ridge and Furrow (High) (ArchAI) – AI-identified well-preserved historic ridge and furrow derived from LiDAR data

Further information

For further information on any of these historic environment opportunity for new woodland map geospatial data layers email historic@forestrycommission.gov.uk.

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