Blog post: Reviewing our services to use the land we manage

Every year, we receive around 700 applications from users who want to do something on land we manage. These range from filming requests - everything from student projects to Hollywood blockbusters - to festivals, meditation classes, ultra marathons, rallying events, horse riding, and even beekeeping.

Each application gives us a fascinating glimpse into the diverse ways people are using the land in Wales.

Helping people know if they need permission

Two years ago we launched the ‘check service’ to help users find out if they need permission. It takes less than 20 seconds to use, and since launch, it’s been used over 3,500 times - about 4.5 times a day.

This has reduced permission-related enquiries, saving time for both users and our team. It also means we’re not collecting personal data unnecessarily. Win-win.

The most popular activities people are checking:

•  camping or overnight parking
•  drones or model aircraft
•  metal detecting
•  horse riding
• taking logs

Our review shows people also want to check if they can:

• film
•  walk dogs
• sell food
• run forests schools
• get married

We will be adding these to the service in our next round of iterations.

Making it easier to apply online

In January 2024, we launched a new online form: Apply to use land we manage. It replaced six separate forms with one smart form that uses skip logic to tailor questions based on what the user wants to do.

For example, if a user chooses ‘surveys’, they would be guided through a set of questions related just to carrying out a survey on our land. Users are blissfully unaware of the complex map of questions about other activities that hides behind the scenes.

User feedback has been positive:

• 75% of users have said this new form is ‘easy’ or ‘very easy’
• comments include:

“the form was very basic and much easier to fill in compared to the procedures in the past”

“first time doing this, seems pretty straightforward”

We have also acted on constructive feedback:

• difficulty uploading documents for surveys - investigated and fixed the issue
• language seems to be aimed at organising events – improved the language on non-event routes
• unable to upload multiple documents – users can upload up to ten, but we are making this cleaer

We have now added horse riding and cycling events to the form, based on demand.

Making it easier for users to know what to provide

We try to avoid asking users to upload something, but sometimes we need supporting documents like maps, risk assessments, or proof of public liability insurance.

To make this easier, we:

• designed a start page listing what to prepare 
• published guidance on preparing maps and risk assessments
• made it mandatory to provide a map

About 75% of users are able to provide the documents. For those who can’t, common reasons include:

• still in early planning stages
• need information from us about the site
• waiting for the permission to be approved before purchasing insurance
• activity is very small with minimal risk

We will share this feedback with the team to help improve the process.

Next steps

This review helped us fix bugs and make small improvements based on user feedback.

We are pausing work on this project to focus on some other projects. When we return we will be:

• updating the check service activities
• speaking to colleagues to find out how things are going internally
• updating apply where necessary

We will still be monitoring the feedback even while our focus is elsewhere and use what we learnt to inform our other projects.