WINS Natural Flood Management: Opportunities for Floodplain Woodland Planting

This dataset was created for the Welsh Information for Nature-based Solutions (WINS) project (previously known as SCCAN) to identify opportunities for land management interventions that enhance ecosystem service delivery across a range of key policy areas. An accompanying User Guide is available to support the use of these datasets, and a full list of source datasets and data limitations can be found in the project technical report.

This dataset identifies opportunity areas for floodplain woodland planting to deliver natural flood management (NFM) benefits. The most effective use of these opportunity areas is likely to involve planting deep-rooting tree species, particularly broadleaved species, to maximise NFM benefits.

Identifier: NRW_DS121700

Alternative Title

SCCAN Natural Flood Management: Opportunities for Floodplain Woodland Planting

Metadata Language: English

Lineage: The suitability for woodland planting was assessed using Agricultural Land Classification (ALC) data, including soil depth, climate, stoniness, slope, drought and wetness characteristics, together with current land cover data to identify areas where tree planting is biophysically feasible. Only land within Flood Zone 3, used as a proxy for floodplains, was considered. Areas within Flood Zone 2, which are more likely to experience frequent flooding, were identified as priority opportunities.

Areas where floodplain woodland planting is either unsuitable or undesirable were identified as constraints and removed from the opportunity area. These constraints included best and most versatile agricultural land, designated sites, existing urban areas and climate change-resilient peatlands. The floodplain woodland constraints are presented in a separate dataset.

Within the remaining opportunity area, a number of sensitivities to woodland planting were identified. These included Grade 3a agricultural land, peat resources not expected to be resilient to climate change, acid-sensitive catchments, Scheduled Ancient Monuments and common land.

This dataset was produced for NRW by Environment Systems Ltd.

Additional Information: Data gaps and limitations: National Phase 1 dataset is likely out of date in many places. Taking the first 500m from the coastline out of the opportunity space is a rough approximation of a complex problem. Ideally, all areas would be taken out that do not have areas at risk of flooding downslope from them or are too close to the area at risk of flooding to have a noticeable effect on the extent of river swelling.

Dataset Reference Date (Publication): 2018-04-01

Temporal Extent

Begin date: 2017-09-01

End date: 2018-04-01

Topic category

Planning cadastre
Society
Farming
Biota
Geoscientific information
Climatology, meteorology, atmosphere
Environment
Elevation
Imagery base maps earth cover
Inland waters

Owner

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) -

Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales

http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en

Originator

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) -

Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales

http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en

Extent

Geographic Extent: Wales (WLS)

Format Type and Description

Geographic Information System ( )

Specification

ESRI Feature Class

Data quality

Quality Scope: Dataset

Conformity: Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services
Explanation: This dataset has not been assessed for conformance to the referenced INSPIRE regulation.
Degree: false

Lineage: The suitability for woodland planting was assessed using Agricultural Land Classification (ALC) data, including soil depth, climate, stoniness, slope, drought and wetness characteristics, together with current land cover data to identify areas where tree planting is biophysically feasible. Only land within Flood Zone 3, used as a proxy for floodplains, was considered. Areas within Flood Zone 2, which are more likely to experience frequent flooding, were identified as priority opportunities.

Areas where floodplain woodland planting is either unsuitable or undesirable were identified as constraints and removed from the opportunity area. These constraints included best and most versatile agricultural land, designated sites, existing urban areas and climate change-resilient peatlands. The floodplain woodland constraints are presented in a separate dataset.

Within the remaining opportunity area, a number of sensitivities to woodland planting were identified. These included Grade 3a agricultural land, peat resources not expected to be resilient to climate change, acid-sensitive catchments, Scheduled Ancient Monuments and common land.

This dataset was produced for NRW by Environment Systems Ltd.

Keywords

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

Land use

Type: Theme

Citation

Date (Publication): 2008-06-01

Code: geonetwork.thesaurus.external.theme.httpinspireeceuropaeutheme-theme

Keywords

NRW Thesaurus

Area Statement
SoNaRR

Type: Theme

Citation

Date (Publication): 2026-08-27

Code: geonetwork.thesaurus.local.theme.converted_nrw-keywords

Keywords

NRW SMNR Keywords

Ecosystem Services (SMNR)
Sustainable Management of Natural Resources (SMNR)

Type: Theme

Citation

Date (Publication): 2024-06-26

Code: geonetwork.thesaurus.local.theme.converted_nrw-smnr-keywords

Code: British National Grid (EPSG::27700)

Content Information

NRW Profile

Custom Elements

Constraints

Limitations on Public Access and Use

Restriction type: Other restrictions

Access Constraints Directive

Limitations: no limitations

Access Constraints Text

Other constraints: There are no access restrictions on this data. NRW may release, publish or disseminate it freely.

Use Constraints

Use constraints type: Other restrictions

Other constraints: © CNC/NRW All rights Reserved. © 2021 Cranfield University. All rights reserved. Contains Ordnance Survey Data. Ordnance Survey Licence number AC0000849444. Crown Copyright and Database Right. Data may be re-used under the terms of the Open Government Licence providing it is done so, acknowledging both the source and copyright of the owners. It is the recipient's responsibility to ensure the data is fit for the intended purpose.

Attribution Statement

Other constraints: Contains Natural Resources Wales information © Natural Resources Wales and Database Right. All rights Reserved. Contains Cranfield University information © 2021 Cranfield University. All rights reserved. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown Copyright and Database Rights. Ordnance Survey Licence number AC0000849444.

Licence

Other constraints: Open Government Licence

Metadata

File Identifier: 4f4c4942-4343-5764-6473-313231373030 XML

Metadata Language: English

Parent Identifier: WINS Area Statement Opportunity Maps
NRW_DS121668

Resource type: Dataset

Metadata Date: 2026-09-30T13:49:15.694Z

Metadata Standard Name: NRW

Metadata Standard Version: 1.0

pointOfContact

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) -

Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales

http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en

Publishing Body

Access the portal

Full access to the portal and metadata.

WINS Natural Flood Management: Opportunities for Floodplain Woodland Planting

Identification

Temporal Extent

Extent

Extent

Distribution

Quality

Data quality

Keywords

Keywords

Citation

Keywords

Citation

Keywords

Citation

Spatial Reference System

Content

Content Information

NRW Profile

Custom Elements

Constraints

Constraints

Limitations on Public Access and Use

Access Constraints Directive

Access Constraints Text

Use Constraints

Attribution Statement

Licence

Metadata

Metadata

Publishing Body