Woodland Improvement Grant Targeting

Woodland Improvement Grants (WIGs) are part of the English Woodland Grant Scheme and are focused on initiating and securing targeted improvements in the delivery of public benefits from woodlands, supporting capital investment work in woodlands to create, enhance and sustain the social, economic and environmental public benefits that woodlands provide.

There are three WIG funds:
Woodland Biodiversity Action Plan (including a specific measure for Red squirrels)
Woodland SSSI Condition Improvement
Woodland Access

In order to prioritise Woodland Access WIG grant applications for creating or improving woodland access, the Forestry Commission Northwest England Conservancy used PBRS to allocate target areas which would be given priority should the number of applications exceeded the available budget.

The Indices of Deprivation (2004) were combined with Defra's definition of rural areas to identify priority areas that were either urban in character, or were highly deprived rural areas (in comparison to other rural areas, but irrespective of urban deprivation).

This resulted in a targeting framework that enabled limited budgets for creating new woodland access to be directed towards those areas where the opportunities for stimulating healthy activity are the greatest.