Policy paper

Woodland Access Implementation Plan

Published 29 November 2023

Applies to England

Foreword 

Under the Environmental Improvement Plan we maintain our commitment to improving access to green spaces, including woodlands, and we will extend this into the new environmental land management schemes. Getting people out into nature is at the heart of our plan to plant more trees and woodlands. The work of this plan will be a key part in meeting our commitment to work across government and beyond so that anyone can reach a green or blue space within 15 minutes from their front door, and to reduce barriers so that everyone can take advantage of these spaces.  

Trees and woodlands can improve health and wellbeing, beautify our landscapes, villages, towns and cities, as well as benefitting nature and helping us fight climate change. Natural England research shows that we could save the NHS more than £2 billion a year if everyone had good access to green space. I love getting outdoors and enjoying the countryside and that is why I want to make sure everyone has access to nature now and for generations to come. 

We are committed to planting 30,000 hectares of new woodland every year in the UK by the end of this Parliament, backed by the £750 million from the Nature for Climate Fund. Thanks to the Nature for Climate Fund, hundreds and thousands of trees have already been planted close to where people live. We have done this through schemes such as the Urban Tree Challenge Fund, Community Forests and Woodland Creation Partnerships. Many of these trees have been planted in areas with less access to green space at the moment. We have announced a competition – a new National Forest – for transformational woodland creation at scale.   

I am keen to see these new and existing woodlands providing good quality, safe access for people, and our Woodland Access Implementation Plan sets out our ambitions to do this.  

These are some of the ways in which we are helping to increase responsible accessible well-managed woodlands: 

• support for landowners to provide access through our England Woodland Creation offer 
• Farming in Protected Landscapes programme and Countryside Stewardship 
• expanding our nation’s public forests through the Forestry England Woodland Partnership and new freehold Coronation Woods

This plan builds on existing work to conserve our woodlands and trees. We designed a Plant Health Accord, urging the public to join collective action to protect plant and tree health. Our Keepers of Time policy to protect ancient and native woodland and trees recognises the need to manage public access to look after these precious assets. We also seek to ensure that the public can benefit from these wonderful legacies of our past.  

This Woodland Access Implementation Plan will help to ensure that people can access and enjoy these newly planted and existing trees and woodlands; and leave a legacy of access for future generations as the trees grow and mature. 

Steve Barclay, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Executive summary 

The Environmental Improvement Plan reiterates our commitment to improving access to green spaces. The plan includes our ambitious commitment, in which woodlands will play a key part, to work across government and beyond to reduce barriers to access and ensure that anyone can reach a green or blue space within 15 minutes of their front door. 

The England Trees Action Plan sets out our plans for ensuring that the public have the opportunity to benefit from these natural assets. Action 4.3 of the plan sets out to protect and improve this access to nature through the development of a Woodland Access Implementation Plan.  This plan will make sure that the provision of safe and appropriate public access is a feature of as many woodlands as possible.  

The Woodland Access Implementation Plan has been created with input from departments across government and stakeholder groups representing users, woodland owners and businesses. Throughout implementation, we will continue to work with others to make sure that woodland access is a priority.   

This plan outlines our ambitions for improving the quantity, quality, and permanency of access to woodlands and clarifies what we aim to achieve through existing mechanisms and resources.  

We will: 

• offer funding through existing land management schemes to landowners and land managers to create or maintain responsible access to trees and woodlands  
• support landowners and land managers through the provision of better and more relevant guidance which promotes examples of good practice 
• continue to improve information to the public on where to go and what to expect when you get there, meeting the EIP commitment to work to reduce barriers to access including a lack of information 
• promote the Countryside Code to ensure responsible use of and respect for accessible greenspaces, including the responsible management of dogs and their impact on wildlife and livestock
• work to protect existing rights and enhance them where possible, in the creation and management of new woodlands 

We will seek to improve our understanding of existing provisions (what woodland access currently exists, where and the type of access) to plan for the future. We will use existing data on the number of visits, and the nature of those visits, to identify improvements and raise standards to create a legacy of access to woodlands for future generations to enjoy.         

Overview  

The England Trees Action Plan, published in 2021, sets out HM government’s long-term vision for trees and woodland. The action plan supports HM government’s ambition of planting, protecting, and managing trees to deliver more for society, nature and the climate.  

The Woodland Access Implementation Plan is a commitment to improve access to trees and woodland. This plan will improve the quantity, quality and permanency of public access to new and existing woodlands. It will ensure safe and appropriate public access to woodlands for as many people as possible regardless of where they live or their background. Over time, we want to maintain and increase the level of public access to woodland.  

To improve the quantity of access we want to create more opportunities which are easy to get to, connected with other accessible areas, and accessible to all. This will also contribute to meeting our commitment for everyone in England to live within 15 minutes’ walk of a green or blue space. We will improve the information we have on existing woodland access provision and provide better information on woodland access both to the public and other providers of greenspace including the type of access, infrastructure and facilities available.  

To help ensure better quality of access and meet our commitment to connect more people to nature, we need appropriate facilities and infrastructure. We need to ensure the public have the information and facilities they need to access woodlands and ensure everybody has a better understanding of their responsibility when accessing the countryside. Where landowners and land managers welcome people onto their land, we will support them through the provision of guidance and by sharing good practice., To secure greater permanency of access to woodlands we need to ensure that we protect existing access rights and seek to create new long-term opportunities. We will support landowners choosing to offer public access in the creation of new woodland for a wide range of users, including for cyclists and horse-riders. We will also aim to secure longer-term access under these voluntary arrangements to create a legacy for future generations of access to woodlands. 

Access to nature  

Access to nature has significant health and wellbeing benefits. For example, the annual mental health benefits associated with visits to the UK’s woodlands are estimated to be £185 million a year. Urban green spaces alone support 2.1 million people to meet their weekly physical activity guidelines, avoiding health service costs of around £1.4 billion. We recognise the importance of enabling access to greenspaces for people’s health and wellbeing and we have ambitious targets under the EIP, which feature woodlands.  

The government’s Levelling Up White Paper states that by 2030, well-being will have improved in every area of the UK, with the gap between top performing and other areas closing. Similarly, the White Paper states that by 2030, the gap in Healthy Life Expectancy (HLE) between local areas where it is highest and lowest will have narrowed, and by 2035 HLE will rise by five years. Defra and The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) are contributing towards the £9 million Levelling Up Parks Fund which will create over 100 new or improved parks to ensure access to green space in deprived urban areas. 

England’s Community Forests Network, funded by Defra’s Nature for Climate Fund, is creating over 7,000 hectares of new woodland, by 2025, in and around some of our largest towns and cities. The network covers 20% of England, where almost 50% of the population live. More than two-thirds of this new woodland will be accessible to local communities. Over half a million more people across the country are now within 500 metres of a woodland thanks to the work of the Community Forests.  

Working together 

In creating this document, we have sought views from a variety of stakeholders. We have engaged with representatives from the forestry sector, landowners and farmers, user and sporting organisations, professional bodies, and several environmental non-government organisations. 

The Woodland Access Implementation Plan 

We will deliver across eight key themes to improve the quantity, quality, and permanency of public access to woodlands.  

1. Research, evidence and data 

By the end of Parliament our ambition is to: 

• establish a baseline of existing woodland access provision, including the location and quality of that provision, which will support our evidence base for the 15 minutes to nature commitment 
• use this baseline to target increased woodland access to ensure better equality of provision for a range of users and leisure activities and 
• commission new research to support our knowledge, understanding and practice 
• explore the use of technology to help people access woodlands more easily 

There is already a strong existing evidence base to build on. The Woodland Trust’s Woods for People dataset provides information on permissive woodland access. We will build on this by incorporating additional data on access types and investigate new ways of measuring demand for all types of woodland access. For example, we will bring together data on public rights of way and data on access supported through the England Woodland Creation Offer and Countryside Stewardship. We will seek to embed this into wider strategic work on active travel, low carbon travel, green infrastructure, and nature recovery. 

Analysing these data will give us a better understanding of the types of access on offer (for example access for pedestrians, for cycling or horse-riding). We will also have a better understanding of the quality of that access (for example, the facilities and infrastructure present). This will allow us to plan for the types and range of access facilities required, in relation to demand and proximity to people. Through our existing knowledge of supporting and protecting woodlands for nature recovery, we will be able to target efforts to ensure the widest benefit from investment to support the growth of recreation and leisure opportunities. 

To better inform our work, Forest Research is undertaking research on how, why and where people visit woodlands to see whether we can better predict future use and demand. This will be through surveys to landowners and land managers to understand their views and perceptions of welcoming people into their woodlands and research into making them more accessible to different groups.  

2. Public information 

By the end of Parliament our ambition is to: 

• make it easier for the public to find out where they can (and cannot) go and  
• what to expect when they get there 

Woodlands are popular places to visit. Our nation’s forests experienced record-breaking visitor numbers in 2021, with 363 million visits estimated to have taken place. Woodlands are an important part of the visitor economy in high profile and beautiful landscapes. However, we know there are areas of the country that have less access to woodlands and that certain groups are still under-represented as visitors to woodlands. One of the main barriers cited is people not knowing where they can go, what rights they have and what to expect when they arrive. Travel to woodland locations is also considered a barrier for many.  

We want to address that by exploring ways to promote accessible woodlands in a user friendly, accessible format, including making use of the latest technology. The baseline data we gather will be used to support this. We will also make sure that where public funds have been provided to landowners offering permissive access, this is communicated through consistent signage. These measures will support our Environmental Improvement Plan commitment to reduce the physical and cultural barriers to people accessing nature. 

3. Access rights 

By the end of Parliament our ambition is to: 

• protect and maintain existing access rights in woodlands 
• enhance and create new access rights in woodlands 

Existing access rights to woodlands vary and can be complex. Woodland is not included as an open access land type under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act (CRoW) 2000. The exceptions to this are: 

• wooded common 
• wooded section 15 land (land with open access rights that existed before the year 2000) 
• woodlands voluntarily dedicated under Section 16 of the CRoW Act 

Woodlands can also contain, or are being planted on land with, existing public rights of way such as footpaths, bridleways, byways and restricted byways, or on land designated as open access under the CRoW Act 2000.  

Many woodland owners offer permissive access which does not confer any rights but allows people, with their permission, to enjoy their land. For example, the National Forest Company, local authorities and non-government organisations such as the Woodland Trust, the National Trust, and Wildlife Trusts all provide the public with access to their woods. Access can also be offered under agreement with a landowner and restricted to certain groups or for certain activities – for example, allowing access for forest school provision.  

We want to secure a lasting legacy of access to woodlands. We will do this by building on the current arrangements, protecting existing access rights and identifying opportunities to work with willing landowners for new permanent access. 

The nation’s forests, managed by Forestry England, provide a variety of opportunities for different recreation and leisure activities. This is in addition to the freedom to access whole areas by foot (including the use of mobility scooters and powered wheelchairs) on dedicated open access land. For example, there are routes for cycling and horse-riding with related infrastructure such as cycle hire, mapped routes and horse box parking. Forestry England has announced that it will buy new areas of land to create the Coronation Woods, providing new opportunities for woodland open access. We will also consider if and how new access rights could be conferred across the nation’s forests, where practicable and affordable. 

Where land with existing access rights may be planted on to create new woodland, we will make sure they are protected, and incorporated in the woodland design. We want to seek enhancements to access, for example, dedicating new Public Rights of Way or creating permissive paths leading from, or connecting to existing Public Rights of Way.  

4. Landowner support 

By the end of Parliament our ambition is to: 

• support landowners and land managers to manage woodlands with existing access alongside other woodland management objectives 
• support landowners who wish to provide additional access 

We know that some landowners do not feel confident about providing access to their woodlands. Landowners may have concerns about liability and Health and Safety, as well as the lack of guidance for managing woodlands with public access, close to or including rights of way.  

Under the new environmental land management offer, farmers and land managers who choose to take up this offer will be rewarded for the societal benefits of bringing people closer to nature, allowing long term permissive access for recreation and contributing to the rural economy.  

To complement this financial support, we will provide landowners with advice and guidance on managing their woodland with public access, including how access can be incorporated into woodland creation design. We will ensure that guidance includes sector agreed standards on accessibility such as those developed by Paths for All and the Sensory Trust. In addition, we are analysing data from a Defra-led call for evidence to assess how to support farmers to diversify and deliver developments on their land. 

We will make sure that the UK Forestry Standard addresses any shift in access policy and that public access continues to be considered a key part of sustainable forest design and management. 

5. Responsible enjoyment for all 

By the end of Parliament our ambition is to: 

• support communities to enjoy and get the most from their local woodlands, to benefit their health and wellbeing 
• ensure that people know what is expected of them, and what to expect when they visit 
• support the public to appreciate, learn about and have opportunities to directly engage with tree planting and the creation and management of woodlands close to where they live 
• Ensure that everyone understands their responsibilities when enjoying access to woodlands 

We will continue to advocate responsible enjoyment of the countryside, promoting the Countryside Code and information about biosecurity, so we can protect our woodlands from pests and diseases. We will ensure that new guidance for woodland owners aligns with the Countryside Code advice for land managers.  

Woodlands also provide a rich array of environmental and economic benefits. Forestry England will launch their own forest curriculum across the nation’s forests. The curriculum aims to set out everything that young people need to know about sustainable forest management. We will also continue support the Forest Education Network for England and their work with forest educators teaching children and young people about, trees, woods and forests. 

The nation’s forests offer plentiful public engagement opportunities. We will build on decades of experience to enhance the opportunities on offer, particularly welcoming families. Forestry England will expand and evolve their Forests for Everyone and Active Forest programme, ensuring it reaches as many people as possible and specifically targeting under-represented groups.  

We know that ensuring the public have the information and access requirements they need is important to boosting time spent in nature.  We know that community groups and non-government organisations already do great work to encourage more people to visit woodlands. We will look to recognise and promote good practice through case studies and look for opportunities where government could provide additional support.   

6. Connection 

By the end of Parliament our ambition is to: 

• ensure that accessible woodlands are considered a key part of wider access and green infrastructure networks 
• support woodland access for leisure and active travel purposes 

It is important that woodlands are a joined-up part of the landscape for species recovery and habitat restoration. This also applies to public access to and within woodlands. Isolated pockets of access to woodland limit the societal benefits, such as improved wellbeing, to be had by everyone.  

We want to make sure that people can travel easily and sustainably to a woodland. We want woodlands to feature in strategic networks, linking and enhancing existing public rights of way and other strategic paths, such as the national cycle network and long-distance trails. We will seek opportunities to do this. We will also look for opportunities to support low carbon travel to woodlands, for example by providing electric vehicle charging points in carparks.  

7. Partnership 

By the end of Parliament our ambition is to: 

• work with access authorities, highways authorities and others to support the provision of high-quality access and low carbon travel to woodlands 

Access to the countryside will be a key consideration to be included in the management plans of Protected Landscapes (National Parks and National Landscapes). Natural England is currently refreshing the guidance for these protected landscape management plans. Currently, 35% of land within Protected Landscapes is woodland, with the nation’s forests contributing 25% of this wooded area. There is a commitment in the England Tree Action Plan to encourage National Parks and National Landscapes to set planting targets within their management plans. Defra is working with Natural England to develop a Protected Landscapes outcomes framework which will include targets for their expected contribution to key national priorities, such as tree planting and public access. We expect to see this woodland area increase.  

We will continue to seek and develop partnerships to deliver outcomes for woodland access. The successful Active Forests programme led by Forestry England, in partnership with Sport England and supported by Defra’s Access For All funding, is being extended as part of a wider health and wellbeing programme.  

We will encourage local authorities to make sure that new and existing access in woodlands is part of the consideration for improving access to the countryside. For example, encouraging woodland access to be considered as part of local tree and woodland strategies, local nature recovery strategies, rights of way improvement plans, or other forms of strategic green infrastructure provision and low carbon travel.  

8. Exemplars 

By the end of Parliament our ambition is to: 

• share good practice from across the sector 
• build on the provision of the nation’s forests and promote Forestry England practice as an exemplar to others wishing to manage public access alongside other wider objectives 

There are many examples of good practice from the public, non-government organisations and the private sector. We want to share and learn from them. We will create case studies, using them to inform future practice and in the development of guidance. 

The way in which people enjoy woodlands continues to change and develop. For example, the increasing use of e-bikes and the use of apps and digital information instead of paper-based maps. We will support the sector to learn from others’ experiences in adapting to these changes.  

Monitoring and evaluating  

Establishing a baseline is essential to target additional access. We will measure access funded through the Nature for Climate Fund, environmental land management schemes and the Farming in Protected Landscape programme and as part of our 15-minute access target. Where possible we will expand on this to measure more specific progress on the type and range of access supported.  

We will also use existing surveys to monitor and report on who is enjoying woodlands and their pattern of use. For example, the People and Nature Survey and the Public Opinion of Forestry Survey.  

To monitor demand for woodland access, we will measure on-site data. We want to maintain current levels of use with an aspiration to see an increasing trend in use over time.

Photo credit: dog walker with tramper, Forestry England, Crown copyright