Sue Weldon and Cathy Bailey

1
New pathways to health and well-being research
to understand and overcome barriers to accessing
woodlands

• Sue Weldon and Cathy Bailey
• in collaboration with Liz OBrien (Forest
  Research)
• for Forestry Commission Scotland
• (Brent Meakin)

2
The research aims

• To understand the barriers affecting peoples
  access to woodlands and forests for health and
  well-being
• To identify, prioritise and promote potential
  opportunities to overcome these barriers

3
Environmental Inequalities

• Environment are shaped by social, cultural and
  political factors
• Inequalities are written into the landscape (the
  Forestry Commission is part of the story)
• Bringing together social inclusion and
  environmental equity for sustainable communities
  (Scottish Executive sustainability strategy
  Choosing our Future (2005))

4
Background to the research

• Community regeneration Closing the Gap
  (Scottish Executive, 2002)
• Scottish Physical Activity Strategy 'Let's Make
  Scotland More Active' (Scottish Executive, 2003)
• Land Reform Act (2003)
• Scottish Forestry Strategy (Forestry Commission
  Scotland, 2006)

5
How we approached the research

• Action research in context of local
  action/access provision
• Case Studies 5 case studies in Scotland

6
Case Studies
Locality Project Community Group Woodland activity
Motherwell Urban Greenlink Mother and toddler group Guided buggy walk
Drumchapel Urban WIAT/community woodland Older people attending a Day Care Centre Guided Health walk
Dundee Urban TWIG Youth group (youth café) Cycling activities
Galashiels Semi- rural WIAT/Borders Forest Trust Young men seeking paid work Building and installing bird/bat boxes
Ardnamurchan Rural Sunart Oakwoods project Rural community (mixed group) No organised activity (participant observation within the community)
7
Known issues affecting access

• Lack of knowledge   
• Lack of motivation
• Lack of time
• Physical accessibility
• Lack of physical fitness
• Feeling unwelcome
• Lack of reasonable facilities
• Conflicts of use
• Negative perceptions, fears and safety concerns

8
Our research findings

• Similar sets of issues BUT experienced
  differently in different contexts why do people
  feel unsafe? Why do people feel unwelcome? What
  sorts of knowledge do they need?
• Is it relevant? (i.e. is it possible to engineer
  access without community participation?)

9
Its a wider problem

• Youre talking about us right? But its a
  wider problem, its no just about us and our
  young kids. Teenage kids as well, thats why
  theyre hanging aboutcos they dont have
  anything else to do either. So the problem
  doesnae just lie with us going out country
  walking and things like that. They dont have a
  facility or anywhere organised to get teenage
  kids organised into it. (mothers, Motherwell)

10
Context for access

• Walking in woodland (e.g. Paths to Health)
• Volunteering in woodland (e.g Green Gym)

11
Urban areas health walks

• Leg it around Drumchapel
• Health walk for older people (Drumchapel)
• A buggy walk for young mothers (Motherwell)

12
Rural areas health walks

• A wee walk and a blether (Ardnamurchan)

13
Urban areas volunteering

• Maintaining access
• Clearing rubbish
• Volunteering as a route into paid work
  (Galashiels, Drumchapel Greenwork mates)
• Its someone elses job (Motherwell, mothers)

14
Rural areas volunteering

• A rural necessity
• Community ownership
• Facilities created for, and by, the community
  (Sunart Oakwoods project)

15
Environmental/social inequalities a comparison

• Urban access issues
• Unsafe environment - associated with crime and
  anti-social behaviour
• Unpleasant environment -litter, damage and
  pollution
• Social deprivation unemployment, poor housing,
  crime youths hang out in local woods

• Rural access issues
• Unsafe environment - associated with lack of safe
  access to services environments (busy country
  roads)
• Pleasant environment but access not actively
  welcomed on private land
• Social deprivation lack of employment, lack of
  affordable housing, lack of services young
  people forced to leave the area