A new future for the Forest (From Daily Echo)

A new future for the Forest

9:10am Sunday 31st August 2008 in

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THEY are blueprints for the future of an internationally renowned Hampshire beauty spot.

After months of consultation involving 70 organisations and a series of high-level workshops, two of the most important documents relating to the next few decades in the New Forest have gone on public view.

From the threat posed by climate change to the need to safeguard the special character of the area, the report looks at the bigger picture and sets out essential areas of policy for the National Park.

And there are some topics in the Park Plan and Recreation Management Strategy that are bound to raise some eyebrows.

The authors have identified a need to combat the threat over the next 50 years of major sea erosion, the extinction of local animal and plant species and a sharp decline in wetland and grassland habitats.

Elsewhere, policymakers site the need for better water conservation, increased kerbside collection services and an increased reliance on regionally produced food.

Clive Chatters, chairman of the New Forest National Park Authority, explained: "The Park Plan is the blueprint for the New Forest over the next 20 years. It looks at the big picture and the big issues that the Forest faces.

"The plan describes how National Park purposes can be achieved in the New Forest by tackling development, transport and recreation pressures, climate change and conservation priorities, and safeguarding it as a fabulous place for wildlife and people."

"We're England's smallest and most densely-populated National Park with more than 15 million people within a 90-minute drive.

We have the highest level of nature conservation interest of any Park in England, so it is inevitable that managing recreation effectively will be a high priority in the New Forest.

"As a result, even though we are the newest National Park Authority, we are the first to give such priority to a specific strategy for managing recreation, which contains some far-reaching proposals about campsites, car parks and roads.

"We believe the strategy strikes the right balance between enabling people to enjoy quiet recreation in the National Park and safeguarding qualities such as diversity of wildlife and tranquillity, that make the place special to them in the first place, but we want to hear your views."

Despite his optimism, the plans, which are up for public consultation until the end of October, have already been hit by controversy.

Before they were even released, the equestrian community was up-in-arms over one of the proposals which sought to regulate the keeping of horses and ponies for recreational use.

A policy suggested that some owners and riders would have to go through a strict planning process for the change of use of private land where their animals graze.

A number of key indicators show whether planning permission would be needed, such as how much land the horse uses, whether it is "rugged" in the winter and whether it is given supplementary food.

But some fear the rules could put the squeeze on the number of suitable private fields and paddocks on National Park land.

Others say businesses that rely on the thriving New Forest equestrian community will be put under strain by the changes.

One furious horse owner, Sue Fairway said the proposals - drawn up by the New Forest National Park Authority - were unworkable.

Sue, who keeps her horse at rented land near Bartley said: "The individual needs of horses are not being considered. I rent a field, but are they going to grant me planning permission?

"My horse needs restricted grazing and a special diet to stop her getting the very painful disease laminitis, which could kill her.

"Under these proposed policies, I would not be able to keep her in the way she needs."

There was further concern when an anonymous campaigner distributed flyers around the New Forest urging owners to take a closer look at the National Park plans.

It warned that the welfare of horses was at risk and claimed businesses that provide feed, tack and shoeing services would be hit in the pocket.

For their part, the National Park Authority says horse owners should read the whole document before making their mind up.

A spokesman said: "We want to remind people that these policies are in draft and that we are asking for their comments on the policies themselves, and not information they have read or heard elsewhere.

"We will not begin to review the policies until the consultation process finishes at the end of October, so people will have plenty of time until then to respond."

The final plan will go to the National Park Authority for approval in 2009 before being published.

Anyone wishing to comment on the drafts of the Park Plan and the Recreation Management Strategy can do so on the National Park website or in printed form from the Authority's offices at South Efford House, near Lymington. The consultation deadline is Friday, October 31.