A PENSIONER has hit out at plans to exclude a "superb" area of natural beauty from the proposed New Forest National Park.

Margaret Shrimpton said the Countryside Agency should bend the rules and include the scenic coastline between Milford on Sea and Hengistbury Head.

She warned that scenic areas would be exposed to the threat of over-development if they were left out of the protected zone.

Miss Shrimpton was giving evidence at the public inquiry into plans to create a New Forest National Park.

The proposed boundary includes part of Southampton Water but excludes coastal areas west of Lymington.

Miss Shrimpton, 79, of Waterford Place, Highcliffe, said she found it difficult to understand the agency's thinking.

She told the inquiry: "The whole coastline from Milford to Hengistbury Head should be given the same treatment as Southampton Water."

Countryside Agency representatives at the inquiry acknowledged that the coastline was spectacular.

But they claimed that land between the beaches and the New Forest included suburban areas and a "bleak" series of car parks.

Miss Shrimpton said they should bend the rules to include areas such as Hengistbury Head.

"The coastal strip, already a magnet for developers, will be ruined forever by over-development unless it's protected as part of the National Park," she said.