Social enterprise and community woodland

 

What are social enterprises?

The New Economics Foundation describes social enterprises as organisations that achieve social and environmental aims primarily by trading. The government argues that they can play an important role in creating a sustainable and socially inclusive economy. Social enterprises can use business solutions to achieve public good.

Looking at social enterprise and community woodland

Hill Holt Wood in Lincolnshire is a 14 hectare deciduous woodland. Its owners have developed a social enterprise that:

• Employs a significant number of people in a small woodland
• Provides vocational training for young people who have been excluded from school or are unemployed.

A project was undertaken to explore and describe how the woodland has been developed into a community woodland based on sustainable principles. A series of interviews were undertaken with the woodland owners, staff, members of the local community and key staff from organisations contracting work to Hill Holt Wood.

The project highlighted three key elements of particular importance concerning Hill Holt Wood:

• Its status and role as a social enterprise
• The community involvement and control of what takes place in the wood
• Its present delivery of education and vocational training to young people.

Some key lessons from the research

• Hill Holt Wood has taken a holistic approach to its work which focuses on people and communities, management of the environment and the creation of a sustainable business.
   
• Hill Holt Wood provides a model of a social woodland enterprise. Elements of the project could be encouraged and enabled to take place in other areas as part of the drive for rural development and diversification.
   
• Because Hill Holt Wood is a lived in and worked in woodland it attracts people to the site who may otherwise be concerned with accessing woodlands alone, such as women.
   
• The role of social enterprises in rural development and rural diversification is becoming an issue of increasing interest. The government sees social enterprises as a way of providing public goods. What is not clear is how these organisations can or should be helped and supported in this provision.
   
• Benefits can be gained for a social enterprise such as Hill Holt Wood by involving the local community in decision-making processes. A commitment by the community and staff of the business to the objectives of the enterprise can provide the momentum for success and are key assets in delivering benefits.
   
• While the type of education and training being carried out at Hill Holt Wood may work in other settings, the woodland habitat has a number of advantages:
  • Ability to absorb activity without seeming crowded
  • Calming and therapeutic effects of trees and woodlands on the young people being trained some of whom have emotional and behavioural difficulties or special needs
  • Providing opportunities for a variety of different training activities such as coppicing, charcoal manufacture and making wood products as well as recreational activities.

Reports and publications

• Hill Holt Wood: Social Enterprise and Community Woodland ^(PDF-2195K)
• Bringing together ideas of social enterprise, education and community woodland: the hill holt wood approach.
  Scottish Forestry 59: 7-14.
• Tackling youth disaffection through woodland vocational training.
  Quarterly Journal of Forestry 99: 125-130.

This research was funded by Forestry Commission England.