Builders to be 'virtually banned' from Forest (From Daily Echo)

Builders to be 'virtually banned' from Forest

10:33am Saturday 5th July 2008 in

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DEVELOPERS could be banned from building virtually any new private homes in the New Forest National Park.

Park bosses say residential development should be restricted to social and affordable housing to meet the needs of local people.

Communities affected by any changes will include Ashurst, Brockenhurst, Lyndhurst and Sway.

Park chiefs say social housing should comprise at least 50 per cent of new schemes, with the balance being made up of "intermediate housing"

- shared equity and shared ownership properties.

Some private housing might be allowed on newly acquired sites, but only if it was needed to ensure the viability of the other properties.

The move has come under fire from National Park Authority (NPA) member Maureen Holding, who is also a district councillor for Brocken-hurst.

She said: "We require a balance of housing that will enhance the local community.

People living in social housing need jobs and we need money from market housing to plough into the local economy."

However, the proposed new policy is likely to make little difference in practice.

Almost all housebuilding in the district takes place in urban communities such as Totton, Lymington and New Milton, which are outside the National Park.

Strict conservation policies that aim to protect Forest villages mean virtually no new construction is possible, other than the replacement of individual homes.

One of the area's biggest builders is New Milton's Parkcrest Construction. A spokesman said: "Any changes wouldn't affect us because we don't build within the Park boundary."

Nick Evans, the NPA's senior planning officer, said: "We have looked at this from the point of view that there will not be that much scope for new housing in the Forest. What housing is built should be affordable to meet the needs of the local community."

The new policy is outlined in a report to NPA members.

It says: "Given the limited scale of future development within the National Park it is considered appropriate to seek only social housing."