Forest Research home > Research > People, trees and woodlands > Trees and woods for wellbeing and quality of life

Active England evaluation

Summary

The Active England programme aimed to increase community participation in sport and physical activity across England. Active England's wider objectives were to improve health and well-being generally, through actively promoting healthy exercise. Approximately 250 projects were funded from 2005.

Five Active England projects focused on increasing activity levels in woodlands and greenspace:

• Bedgebury, Kent
• Haldon Forest Park, Devon
• Rosliston, Derbyshire (the National Forest – as part of ‘Get Active in the forest’ project)
• Great Western Community Forest, Wiltshire (as part of the ‘Active Swindon’ project)
• Greenwood Community Forest, Nottinghamshire (as part of the Parklife project).

The projects, lasting for 3 years, shared similar aims:

• To increase physical activity levels in key under-represented groups
• To increase participation in physical and sports activity.

Specific priority groups included:

• People on low incomes
• People with disabilities
• Women and girls
• Black and ethnic minorities
• 45yrs+ age group
• Young people (under 16).

The above sites improved existing infrastructure and/or organised a range of events, activities and training to help attract new users and encourage them to adopt healthier lifestyles. Organising health walks and tai chi sessions, undertaking outreach work, creating children’s adventure playgrounds and developing family cycle tracks were examples of some approaches adopted on these sites.

Evaluation approach

Forest Research contributed to the monitoring and evaluation of the five projects.  It adopted a three-phase approach to its evaluation:

1. Questionnaires undertaken yearly at each site to obtain a profile of visitors and to monitor how the user base changes over the course of each project.
2. Production of a catchment profile (including demographic details) of the surrounding population within an approximate 20-minute drive time to the site.
3. Qualitative research within surrounding communities to explore the benefits and barriers to using woodlands for physical activity.

The evaluation is now complete and various reports have been produced (see below).

Evaluation reports

There is a report for each individual project, a short summary report that brings together the key findings from each project and a full report that provides an overview and analysis of the research across the five Active England projects:

• Bedgebury National Pinetum and Forest ^(PDF-1591K)
• Great Western Community Forest ^(PDF-1412K)
• Greenwood Community Forest ^(PDF-2232K)
• Haldon Forest Park ^(PDF-2004K)
• Rosliston Forestry Centre ^(PDF-1512K)
• Summary report ^(PDF-414K)
• Full report ^(PDF-1725K)

Funders and partners

The Active England programme was jointly funded by Sport England and the Big Lottery Fund with a budget of over £100 million.

Each of the five project sites above worked with Forest Research to add value to the evaluation.

Forestry Commission policy

Forestry Commission conducts and funds a range of research that explores the social aspects of forestry, including a social research programme on health and well-being.

Contact

Liz O’Brien
Forest Research
Social and Economic Research Group
Farnham
Surrey, GU10 4LH

Tel: 01420 22255
Fax: 01420 23653
Email: liz.obrien@forestry.gsi.gov.uk

                                       

Useful sites