England's Community Forests

The country's biggest environmental regeneration initiative.

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About England's Community Forests

There are 12 Community Forests in England, each located in and around a major urban area. Half of England's population lives in or within easy reach of a Community Forest.

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Our task

Our task is to deliver a comprehensive package of urban, economic and social regeneration, creating high-quality environments for millions of people by revitalising derelict land, providing new opportunities for leisure, recreation, and cultural activities, enhancing biodiversity and supporting education, healthy living and social and economic development.

Each Forest is a partnership between local authorities, the Forestry Commission, the Countryside Agency and other local and national organisations. The founding basis for each Forest is a government-approved Forest Plan, a 30-year vision of landscape-scale improvement.

Origins and achievements to date

The Community Forest programme was established in 1990 by the Countryside Commission (now the Countryside Agency), as a pilot project to demonstrate the potential contribution of environmental change to economic and social regeneration.

Since 1990, England’s Community Forests have

• Planted over 10,000 hectares of new woodland
• Brought more than 27,00 hectares of exiting woodland under management
• Created or improved 12,000 hectares of other habitats
• Planted or restored 1,200 kilometres of hedgerows
• Opened up 16,000 hectares of woods and green-space for recreation and leisure
• Restored or created more than 4,000 kilometres of recreational routes
• Held many thousands of local events and community activities

…and over £175 million has been invested in creating better places in the Community Forests.

• Click here to see a copy of our most recent annual monitoring report.

The future

Today, England’s Community Forests are supported by the Forestry Commission, the Countryside Agency, 58 local authorities and many other voluntary, public and private organisations.

The Forests are regularly identified as key delivery mechanisms for emerging initiatives like ODPM’s Growth Areas and the joint Countryside Agency/Groundwork vision for the countryside in and around towns. Government itself, in the Rural Strategy and Sustainable Communities Plan, has expressed a wish to see their experience more widely integrated into other environmental, regeneration and community programmes.

England’s Community Forests will continue to grow as the landscapes they are creating evolve and mature – an investment for future generations. We look forward to ongoing success, and using our accumulated experience and expertise to support the wider integration of community forestry across other environmental, regeneration and local community programmes.

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