Your car parking fee supports the forests you love
We manage landscapes for wildlife to thrive, people to enjoy and as a source of sustainable wood. We care for more land and trees than any other organisation in England and we have to raise most of the money needed for this work ourselves, with less than 20% of our income coming from core government funding.
Money raised from our car parks goes towards maintaining our visitor facilities and helping us look after the forests and wildlife.
We really couldn’t do it without your support.
Become a member
Become a national member and enjoy free parking at hundreds of sites. Your membership helps us to continue the vital work we do to care for the forests we all love.
How to pay for parking
The method of payment and control are clearly displayed at each forest and explained in detail on the specific forest's webpage.
If you'd like to know more about parking at a specific forest, please find the forest you wish to visit first, and look at the parking information on the forest page.
Parking will operate by one of these methods:
- Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) with barriers: pay at the pay station before exiting the car park.
- ANPR barrierless: pay at pay station before exiting the car park.
- ANPR barrierless: pay at pay station on arrival in the car park.
- Pay and Display: pay at pay station on arrival in the car park and display ticket.
- Pay by Phone: pay via mobile phone on arrival in the car park.
- Pay by Phone post-pay: pay via mobile phone after arrival in the car park, but within advertised timescales.
Read our parking code of practice.
Become a member
If you enjoy spending time in your local forest, why not save time and money by becoming a member? This gives you free car parking and many more exclusive benefits!
Forestry England parking fines
Privacy notice
We will only collect and use the personal data we need. We’ll make it clear at the point of collection why we are collecting it.
At some of our locations, we use ANPR and/or MNPR technology, to record your vehicle when you visit. These devices are used to enable parking fees to be paid, but also to enforce the terms & conditions that apply when parking in Forestry England car parks. This is in accordance with Article 6(1) of the UK GDPR, where processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party.
Non-payment of a parking charge imposed by us, or parking in no parking areas, are a breach of Forestry England parking terms and conditions; contractual obligation is the lawful basis for us and our agents to process your personal data.
The Forestry Commission contracts two parking enforcement operators nationally to act as our agents; CP Plus Ltd (trading as GroupNexus) and Park With Ease Ltd. Our agents may issue a Parking Charge Notice (PCN) for non-payment of parking charges or for vehicles parked in no parking areas.
CP Plus Ltd (trading as GroupNexus) may share vehicle details with their sub-processor ZatPark for the enforcement of parking terms & conditions.
Our agents may share your details with a third party in order to enforce the debt where a Parking Charge Notice remains unpaid.
Our agents may disclose your personal information to the DVLA to obtain vehicle keeper details.
We will not disclose your details to additional third parties except to help prevent fraud or if required to do so by law.
If you are paying a parking charge, the personal information that you provide when accessing the Parking Charge payments system is used to process your payment or contact you about any parking charge appeal.
The Forestry Commission is registered as a data controller under the Data Protection Act 2018 (Registration No: Z6542658). The information you supply when paying your parking fine will be held securely in the UK or EU for up to a maximum of seven years after the contravention date, after which your personal data will be securely destroyed.
You have a number of rights in respect to your personal data, including the right to access your personal data by contacting us. These rights can be viewed in our Privacy Policy.
If you have any questions regarding your personal data, please can contact our Data Protection team[PT6] . You may also lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority - the Information Commissioner’s Office: https://ico.org.uk/
Pay or appeal your parking charge notice with GroupNexus
Contact us
For all other parking enquiries, please email info@forestryengland.uk.
Parking terms and conditions
1. Liability
All persons entering the Forest and parking areas do so at their own risk and neither Forestry England nor any person acting on its behalf is in any way responsible for any loss, injury or damage sustained by them or for loss or damage to vehicles and their contents left within the car park.
2. Parking charges
A schedule of charges is displayed at the entrances to the car park and at pay machines. Forestry England reserves the right to vary the Parking Charges without notice.
Parking charges apply to all vehicles using Forestry England car parks.
We do not offer free or discounted parking for Blue Badge holders. This policy has been carefully considered and applies across all of our chargeable car parks. We are committed to making our forests inclusive and accessible. Wherever possible, we provide accessible parking spaces, toilets, and easy-access trails. Visit our accessibility information page for pre-visit planning.
3. Payments (tickets)
Tickets are non-transferable unless stated otherwise.
Tickets are only valid for one entry and one exit at any one time (i.e. you must enter and leave the forest parking areas before the ticket will allow a second entry to be made). The ticket cannot be used in respect of a second vehicle or car park user.
4. Responsibilities of car park users
Persons using the forest parking areas should adhere to the Highway Code and must obey all signage. Persons using the forest parking areas must obey directions from any signage and Forestry England personal. You must ensure that your vehicle is parked in an appropriate manner at all times.
5. Prohibited activities
You are not permitted to tow any vehicle into the forest parking areas. No work on or cleaning of, vehicles is permitted in the forest parking areas. No activity in connection with the selling, hiring or other disposal of vehicles is permitted in the forest parking areas. No car boot sales or selling of any type is to take place.
6. Abandoned vehicles
Any vehicle left in the forest parking areas for more than 5 days, which prior notification has been given to the Forestry England, may be considered abandoned.
Forestry England reserved the right to dispose of any vehicle it reasonably believes to have been abandoned.
Before disposing of abandoned vehicles Forestry England or it approved agent will make reasonable enquiries to identify and contact the registered keeper of the vehicle.