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Introduction and background

The Welsh Government set out its commitment to create a National Forest for Wales in Spring 2020. The aim of the National Forest is to restore and maintain existing woodland and connect them with new woodland areas through tree planting. The National Forest network is being established through bringing existing woodland sites into the network to learn, share and collaborate. In autumn 2020, the first 14 National Forest sites were announced, which were part of the Welsh Government Woodland Estate (WGWE) and managed and maintained by Natural Resources Wales.

Following on from the National Forest Demonstrators scheme, the Welsh Government developed a National Forest delivery model to support and prepare woodland sites to join the National Forest network. This model includes a range of delivery mechanisms including staff roles, funding, resources, and the National Forest Status Scheme. An overview of the delivery mechanisms and their introduction is provided below.

Overview of delivery mechanisms

The Woodland Investment Grant (TWIG)

  • Date introduced: June 2022.
  • Aim: to support woodland creation, enhancement, and restoration, developing a pipeline of future National Forest sites.

My Tree Our Forest (MTOF)

  • Date introduced: November 2022.
  • Aim: To provide trees to households and landowners to promote tree planting and make early contributions to the National Forest for Wales.

Woodland Liaison Officers (WLOs)

  • Date introduced: September 2022.
  • Aim: To support woodland owners through the National Forest Status Scheme, signposts funding opportunities, and provides woodland management guidance.

Coetiroedd Bach (Tiny Forest) Grant

  • Date introduced: April 2023.
  • Aim: To create 100 ‘Tiny Forests’ across Wales between 2023 and 2025 to enhance biodiversity and green spaces.

National Forest for Wales Status Scheme

  • Date introduced: June 2023.
  • Aim: To enable woodlands to join the National Forest network by meeting National Forest Outcomes and maintaining a woodland management plan.
The six high level outcomes for the National Forest for Wales Status Scheme
  1. Good quality, well designed and managed resilient woodlands (Essential outcome).
  2. Woodlands accessible to people (Desirable outcome).
  3. Community involvement in woodlands (Desirable outcome).
  4. Connected woodlands (Desirable outcome).
  5. Dynamic, multi-purpose woodlands and trees (Desirable outcome).
  6. Woodlands that demonstrate learning, research, and innovation (Desirable outcome).

As of January 2025 the National Forest comprised 26 WGWE blocks, which contain multiple sites managed by Natural Resources Wales, and 55 Status Scheme sites which have joined through the National Forest Status Scheme and are managed by other landowners.

Research aims and methodology

In June 2024, the Welsh Government commissioned Wavehill to undertake an independent evaluation of the National Forest for Wales programme. The main aims of the evaluation are to:

  • evaluate the delivery of the National Forest for Wales so far, including funded support staff and grant funding available to landowners to help inform recommendations for future delivery models
  • understand how the National Forest is viewed by communities and members of the public and any experiences so far
  • recommend a design for assessing impact in the future, including what should be built into the programme to support impact evaluation

Phase 1 has explored the delivery mechanisms introduced to support the National Forest for Wales so far – covered in this summary and main phase 1 report. In phase 2, the research will explore public views and experience of the National Forest and explore how the National Forest may assess impact in the future. In phase 1, data has been collected using a mixed-method approach, triangulating qualitative and quantitative data sources to build a robust and comprehensive evidence base that helped the evaluation team address the key evaluation questions.

Evaluation activities have included interviews conducted with stakeholders from Welsh Government and those delivering the support mechanisms including Natural Resources Wales, Coed Cadw, National Lottery Heritage Fund (Heritage Fund) and Llais y Goedwig. An online survey and follow-up interviews were used to consult organisations/sites that have joined the National Forest for Wales Status Scheme as well as recipients of either TWIG or Coedtiroedd Bach (Tiny Forest). Case study site visits were also completed with a sample of sites.

Findings

What has worked well

Findings suggest that TWIG funding has supported the growth in the National Forest network. As well as encouraging and supporting sites to become ready to join the Status Scheme, it is also continuing to support sites that have already become members and in doing so aiding them in contributing towards the six high-level National Forest outcomes. Whilst there are fewer Coetiroedd Bach grants than TWIG and delivery is likely to fall short of the target of 100 Tiny Forests, this delivery mechanism has helped establish a small number of new woodland sites within urban and peri-urban spaces.

A review of the first 37 application forms submitted for the National Forest Status Scheme suggests that around one third of sites have recently completed planting or are planning to create new woodland. This provides an indication that the network can and will contribute towards planting and woodland creation objectives even though this is not a mandatory requirement to join the Status Scheme.

Positive feedback has been captured on the process of applying to the Status Scheme from those that responded to the survey, providing evidence that the application and assessment processes are clear to applicants. For sites that have joined the National Forest Status Scheme, the support and advice provided from the Woodland Liaison Team was rated by most organisations as very effective. Nearly all survey respondents that received TWIG funding and Coetiroedd Bach funding indicated that the support they received from their WLO was effective, providing valuable advice and guidance on the application process and helping to ensure their submissions were aligned with the programme aims. Positive feedback has also been received regarding the National Forest network, which is enabling sites that have achieved National Forest Status to share knowledge, practice and learning.

The WLO Team were regarded as approachable and knowledgeable by landowners engaged in the research. They have also engaged with landowners and communities to develop a pipeline of sites that may join the Status Scheme in the future. In the view of the evaluation team, they are an integral and necessary part of the delivery of the programme.

Areas for improvement

A small number of stakeholders reported being uncertain on whether the programme’s primary focus is on supporting the visitor economy through the creation of a national trail, or on environmental objectives such as tree planting, improving biodiversity, and expanding woodlands, which align with the core aims of the Woodlands for Wales Strategy. Whilst there is a consensus of stakeholder support for the programme, it would be helpful for the concept, delivery approach and associated timelines to be restated and communicated to the key stakeholders.

Whilst some promotional activity has been carried out, it would be helpful to produce a clear and well-resourced marketing and communication plan for the programme. This could include more support and guidance for Status Scheme sites, beyond their initial stakeholder pack of guidance, as well as promotion at a programme level.

When applying for the Status Scheme, applicants are required to submit their management plan with their application. Welsh Government and Natural Resources Wales should consider whether there are ways to strengthen the assessment process to better support the long-term delivery of the programme.

A landscape approach to the National Forest is expected to help fill gaps in the network and guide the future focus of the WLO team. As the programme progresses, this approach will be further developed and clarified, including targeted efforts based on the profile of sites already within the Status Scheme. To maximise its effectiveness, it will be important to define how and why specific sites are selected for targeted engagement to encourage them to apply for National Forest Status, ensuring alignment with the existing network and programme goals.

Emerging outcomes and impacts

The evaluation has identified emerging themes in relation to the delivery of outcomes and longer-term impacts across the woodland sites supported under the National Forest Programme. Half of the sites that received a TWIG grant reported that they had made a lot of progress against the stated aims and objectives included in their funding application. However, at the time of writing, the main theme reported by all sites responding to the survey that had received a TWIG grant, was that it was too early to evidence impacts across the National Forest for Wales outcomes.

In-depth interviews with 7 sites that had joined the Status Scheme highlighted further progress across several of the high-level outcomes, including improving connectivity between woodlands by working collaboratively with landowners for adjacent woodland sites, supporting improvements to the quality and management of the woodland site through remediation and conservation works and planting and involving communities through open days, volunteer days and the delivery of education and learning opportunities.

Through the application process, sites have been assessed as meeting the essential outcome and 93% also meet all the non-mandatory outcomes. However, there is currently no requirement for sites that have joined the National Forest network to provide any monitoring data to Natural Resources Wales. This limits the ability to standardise, collate, and evidence outcomes across the network of sites. This raises questions as to how the programme can demonstrate its maintenance of or progress towards the six high level outcomes or contribution to targets associated with tree planting and woodland creation or objectives around engaging and involving local communities or providing opportunities for volunteering. This next phase of the evaluation will explore how other comparable programmes across the UK approach the capture of key metrics to enable an assessment of impact to support recommendations for how this may be done in Wales.

Conclusions

The evidence suggests that the delivery of the programme is progressing well and the various mechanisms are combining to support the growth of a network of woodland sites operating within the umbrella of the National Forest for Wales. The process for assessing Status Scheme applications is non-bureaucratic, accessible, and non-onerous on woodland owners seeking to apply. The delivery of the programme is adhering to this design and the application and assessment process has been well received by applicants. The intention to introduce a landscape approach in the delivery of the programme could identify geographical gaps in the profile of the network to be addressed as well as directing the future focus of the WLO team.

The opportunity for sites to learn from each other and incorporate best practice through their engagement in the National Forest network has real potential to help sites to understand how to continue to deliver against the six high level outcomes and achieve longer-term impacts for woodlands and communities.

Recommendations

The following recommendations are provided to inform what delivery of the National Forest for Wales programme should look like post-2025.

Recommendation 1

Welsh Government should provide clarification on the concept of the National Forest for Wales programme including the balance of expectations for sites within the network to contribute to the objectives set out in the Woodland for Wales Strategy. This may necessitate a rebalancing and refinement of the application and assessment process to determine the extent to which sites can contribute to agreed national outcomes and targets.

Recommendation 2

Without suitable resourcing and a clear plan for promotion the National Forest network may not achieve all its potential impacts. Welsh Government should establish a clear plan for promotion subject to the clarification around the concept of and objectives for the programme.

Recommendation 3

TWIG funding has been an important tool in supporting and encouraging organisations to apply for and ultimately join the National Forest for Wales Status Scheme. Options for continuing this grant fund should be explored and resources provided in line with the planned growth of the network.

Recommendation 4

To date, the role of the WLO team has predominantly focused on encouraging and supporting applications to the Status Scheme. NRW and Welsh Government should explore the future role and resourcing of the team including the balance between supporting prospective sites and supporting current sites. As the network grows, this may require further investment to expand the capacity of the team and discussion about the adoption of a more targeted approach to engaging key sites and landowners.

Recommendation 5

Welsh Government should consider whether requirements and assessment processes should be introduced for Status Scheme sites to report activity maintenance of and progress towards outcomes as a condition of retaining their status. The absence of any standardised indicators and regular monitoring process currently limits the ability to report on the contribution that the sites are collectively making towards a range of policy objectives and the national wellbeing indicators.

Contact details

Report authors: Andy Parkinson, Anna Burgess, Megan Clark, Dr Nikola Vousden and Rhys Maher

Views expressed in this report are those of the researchers and not necessarily those of the Welsh Government.

For further information please contact:

Climate and Environment Research Team
Social Research and Information Division
Knowledge and Analytical Services
Welsh Government
Cathays Park
Cardiff
CF10 3NQ

Email: ClimateAndEnvironmentResearch@gov.wales

Social research number: 62/2025
Digital ISBN: 978-1-83715-893-5

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