Supplementary memorandum submitted by
the Forestry Commission (TNF 02A)
ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE
REQUESTED BY
THE ENVIRONMENT,
FOOD & RURAL
AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
ON 27 JANUARY
2010 FROM PAUL
HILL-TOUT,
FORESTRY COMMISSION
ENGLAND
As one of its Comprehensive Spending Review
targets for 2008-11, Forestry Commission England has undertaken
to:
Develop a methodology, set a target, then measure
an increase in:
— visits to and engagement with local woodland;
— personal and social benefit;
for a series of selected sites, as an indicator
of woodlands' contribution to Quality of Life.
The work is being undertaken in partnership
with Forest Research, the Forestry Commission's research agency.
The three sites selected for this performance
measure are:
— Ingrebourne Hill Community Woodland,
part of Thames Chase Community Forest in the London Borough of
Havering.
— Birches Valley Forest Centre, part of
Cannock Chase in Staffordshire.
— Bentley Community Woodland, part of the
South Yorkshire Community Forest in Doncaster Metropolitan Borough.
A "local catchment" of potential site
users for each location was defined, mapped and profiled using
the Woodland Trust's "Woodland Access Standard" for
locally accessible woodland and available social data.
During the first year (2008-09) baseline data
was collected through on-site interviews at each location to build
up a visit, visitor, quality of experience and benefits profile
of site users.
In parallel, off-site surveys were commissioned
within the local catchment to establish a picture of woodland
visits among local communities and establish what might be preventing
some people from visiting and enjoying their local woodlands.
First year research showed that the established
woodland at Birches Valley was visited by a substantially higher
proportion of its local catchment population than the newer community
woodlands at Ingrebourne and Bentley. In contrast, a greater proportion
of visitors to Ingrebourne and Bentley were actively engaged with
those sites. Quality of experience at all three sites was fairly
high and a consistently high proportion of local people at all
three locations felt that both they personally and their community
benefited from the woodlands in terms of health, well-being and
quality of life.
Early results suggest non-use of local woodlands
may be associated with low incomes, disability and ethnicity,
with gender and age being less influential. Lifestyle choices
are also significant, with a substantial proportion of respondents
suggesting that visiting local woodlands was less important than
many other activities. An interim report of the first year research
could be made available.
Analysis of second year survey data in being
carried out now and a full report of the study will be published
in March 2011. We are currently considering the most useful way
in which the findings might be converted into an indicator of
"social condition" that would allow us to monitor and
evaluate the increasing social value of new community woodlands
to local people. A full report for the three year's of research
will be available April 2011.
The results of this work will enable us: to
better characterise and quantify the individual and social benefits
of community woodlands; to identify appropriate measures to enhance
the quality of experience and range of benefits they deliver to
local communities; and to target our efforts to share those benefits
more broadly in society.
27 January 2010
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