By Dave Bell, Principal Officer: Health & the Environment, Natural England
Spending time in nature is essential for good health.As studies continue to show the profound benefits of nature and outdoor activity for public health, the Healthy Outdoors guide has been created to address a critical evidence gap: the need for consistent, comparable evaluation of outdoor interventions.
In recent years, the UK’s major health and environmental strategies have increasingly recognised something communities have long understood - access to nature is essential for good health. From local parks and woodlands to rivers, canals and coastlines, the evidence is growing that regular contact with green and blue spaces supports both physical and mental wellbeing.
This is a major theme of Natural England’s new strategy, Recovering Nature for Growth, Health and Security. It prioritises improving health and wellbeing as a core outcome and commits to building nature into everyday life so people can access and benefit from it wherever they live.
This shift reflects not only mounting research on the health benefits of nature, but also a broader understanding of the wider determinants of health - factors such as environment, housing, education and social connection that shape long-term health outcomes.
The Government’s 10 Year Health Plan for England: Fit for the Future emphasises the critical role that prevention and community based approaches need to have to address the root causes of ill health. Nature-based approaches and outdoor activities provide low cost, high impact opportunities to improve population health, build resilience and reduce pressure on the NHS.
Despite this widespread recognition of the health benefits of outdoor interventions, the evidence base is limited by inconsistent measurement of health outcomes. Different programmes measure outcomes in different ways, making it difficult to determine which approaches are most effective, for whom and under what circumstances. The presence and complexity of multiple metrics for health also make effective evaluation challenging for many community groups and those not embedded in health evaluation practices.
This slows progress and limits the ability of policymakers, funders and practitioners to invest confidently in interventions that could significantly improve community health and reduce health inequalities.
To address this challenge, the 2025 Environmental Improvement Plan includes a landmark commitment to develop a Standard Evaluation Framework for assessing the health impacts of outdoor interventions. Today, we’re delighted to publish Healthy Outdoors: A guide for measuring health outcomes when evaluating outdoor interventions.
The Healthy Outdoors guide is a practical tool designed for a range of organisations.The Healthy Outdoors guide is a practical tool designed for a range of organisations including government, the voluntary and community sector, the NHS, academia, evaluators, funders, and the private sector. It helps organisations to identify appropriate measures and principles that can help ensure evaluations are consistent, robust, and focused on health outcomes.
Whether supporting a Green social prescribing project, managing a community greenspace, designing Active Travel interventions or delivering physical activity programmes, users of the guide will be able to apply a shared approach to measuring health outcomes that strengthens evidence and reflects UK health priorities.
To develop this resource, Natural England has worked in partnership with cross government partners from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Sport England, Active Travel England and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. A wider stakeholder advisory group has also contributed valuable insight from the public health, environmental, voluntary and community sectors.
Find out moreJoin our launch webinar on 15 April 2026, 10:00-11:00. Register here: Healthy Outdoors Webinar – 15 April, 10-11am
We will be hosting a free webinar to introduce the Healthy Outdoors guide and walk through how organisations can use it to strengthen the way they measure health and wellbeing outcomes.
Read the full report here: Healthy Outdoors: A guide for measuring health outcomes when evaluating outdoor interventions - NECR725
If you have any questions, please email our team at Evaluation@naturalengland.org.uk
seen at 10:45, 17 March in Natural England.