National Woodlands is a new kind of organisation — a Community Interest Company that works to identify, rescue, restore and steward neglected land for lasting public benefit.
National Woodlands is the trading name of NATIONAL WOODLANDS ORG CIC — a Community Interest Company registered in England and Wales (Company No. 17283831).
We are not a charity in the traditional sense, and we are not a business driven by profit. We are something different: an organisation whose legal purpose is to deliver measurable community benefit through the restoration and stewardship of land and woodland.
Our registered office is at 24 St. Chads Way, Sprotbrough, Doncaster, DN5 7LF. We work across England and Wales.
Woodland and green space that communities love are woodland and green space that communities protect. We build that connection deliberately, through access, education and participation.
Everything we do is done lawfully, openly and in good faith. We work with landowners, councils, communities and public bodies — never against them.
We are not interested in quick wins. Our work is built around long-term land stewardship, careful restoration and sustainable community use that lasts for generations.
Our CIC structure legally locks in our purpose. Community benefit is not a goal — it is a binding legal obligation that governs everything we do.
Across England and Wales, there is a persistent and underappreciated problem: land that nobody cares for, nobody visits and nobody defends. Some of it was once valued. Some of it has always been neglected. Some of it has fallen into legal grey areas with no clear responsible party.
Meanwhile, communities continue to lose access to green space. Children grow up without outdoor learning. Local heritage is forgotten. Biodiversity declines. And the argument for protecting any given piece of land grows harder to make when nobody can point to the people who use it and love it.
National Woodlands was established to tackle this problem directly: to find that land, bring the right people together, restore it carefully, and make it a place communities will fight to protect — because they value it, use it and feel connected to it.
We identify neglected, unused or undervalued land — through community referrals, our own research, council partnerships and public records.
We research ownership, legal status, constraints and potential. We engage landowners and stakeholders early, transparently and in good faith.
Where we gain appropriate rights, we begin careful, evidence-led restoration — planting, habitat creation, safety clearance and long-term management planning.
We open restored land to responsible community use, build education and wellbeing programmes, and establish the kind of community connection that protects land long-term.
Whether you are a landowner, a council, a funder, a community group or simply someone who cares about a local green space, we want to hear from you.
