Results
Space for People
Space for People sets out the Woodland Trust’s analysis of access to woodland in the UK. By developing a strategy for accessible woodland near to where people live, in both urban and rural areas, we believe society will enjoy many of the other benefits that woodland offers, including improvement of health, landscape enhancement, filtration of air pollution, soil stabilisation and flood alleviation. In all woodland can help deliver 10 of the UK Government’s 20 headline quality of life indicators.
Space for People describes how we have assessed the extent of permissively accessible woodland in the UK, presents the Woodland Access Standard and the research and thinking behind it, and finally establishes targets across the UK for opening up existing woods for public access and creating new woods where insufficient woodland currently exists. It is the first time such assessment of woodland, or any other greenspace, has been undertaken at a UK level and while the targets may seem challenging they do represent the result of detailed, and soundly based, analysis of provision and need. This research is however ongoing work. As updated or new data on woodland access becomes available, the extent of access to existing woods can be reviewed and targets for woodland creation can be recalculated. The tables at the end of the document illustrate current targets.
Space for People is targeted at decision-makers and those working in the planning and greenspace sectors. It is hoped that the work will incite debate on the quantity and quality of woodland access in the UK, and the valuable role that woodland has to play in the greenspace debate. The work presents the various steps involved in creating targets for woodland access, both to existing sites and through creation of new ones, and thereby includes a number of elements that may serve as useful tools for decision-making at the local level.
For any comments or views, or to request hard copies of the Space for People, please contact us
While the data from Woods for People, forms the starting point for the wider Space for People analysis, the data also shows some interesting results in its own right. One example of this is the table below, which shows the proportion of all woodland, by country and English region, that is accessible. This tables suggests two things: Firstly that the woodland area in some parts of the UK is very low and that this suggests the need for more new woodland. Secondly, that in terms of access to woodland, it is not just about new woodland, but also about making existing woods accessible.
| Country/Government Office region | Woodland area | Publicly accessible woodland (permissive) | ||
| Woods for People dataset | % of woodland area | |||
| Country | Area (ha) | Area (ha) | Area (ha) | |
| England | 13,295,236 | 1,059,771 | 488,240 | 46 |
| Northern Ireland | 1,431,496 | 115,192 | 82,385 | 72 |
| Scotland | 8,023,384 | 1,339,736 | 813,074 | 61 |
| Wales | 2,122,450 | 281,171 | 149,741 | 53 |
| Region | ||||
| East Midlands | 1,581,477 | 74,443 | 35,503 | 48 |
| Eastern | 1,957,502 | 117,004 | 56,707 | 48 |
| London | 159,472 | 6,074 | 4,300 | 71 |
| North East | 867,642 | 104,460 | 97,427 | 93 |
| North West | 1,491,831 | 94,314 | 50,936 | 54 |
| South East | 1,941,293 | 267,756 | 94,573 | 35 |
| South West | 2,439,224 | 213,612 | 72,165 | 34 |
| West Midlands | 1,300,380 | 88,667 | 28,557 | 32 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 1,556,415 | 93,398 | 48,072 | 51 |
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