Space for People sets out the Woodland Trust's strategy for ensuring everyone has adequate access to UK woodland - download here
We believe that creating access to woods near to where people live, in both urban and rural areas, brings other benefits, including; better health, more attractive landscapes, less pollution, soil stabilisation and flood alleviation.
Space for People is the first major assessment of any green space in the UK. It outlines what access the public currently has to woodland and presents a Woodland Access ‘standard'. This sets new targets including the need to open up access to existing woods and creating new woodland.
Many of the targets appear challenging. However, they are based on detailed research, and work is ongoing. Information will be reviewed as it is updated or new data on woodland access becomes available. Tables at the end of the document illustrate the current targets.
The Woodland Trust Woodland Access Standard states:
- that no person should live more than 500metres from at least one area of accessible woodland of no less than 2hectares in size
- that there should also be at least one area of accessible woodland of no less than 20hectares within 4kilometres (8-kilometre round trip) of people’s homes.
