Nearly three-quarters of England’s woods inaccessible to public, study finds

Nearly three-quarters of England’s woods inaccessible to public, study finds

Exclusive: Campaigners call for government to introduce right-to-roam bill that allows people to walk around their local woodlands Helena Horton Environment reporter Fri 13 Mar 2026 06.00 CET Prefer the Guardian on Google

Nearly three-quarters of England’s woods are off-limits to the public, buried government documents show.

The study by Forest Research, which is a government-funded quango, found that 73% of English woodland is publicly inaccessible.

The research also found that more than a third of the trees on the Woodland Trust’s ancient tree inventory are inaccessible to the public.