ONE of Hampshire’s top politicians has urged the Government not to scrap the body that manages most of the New Forest.

Julian Lewis, Tory MP for New Forest East, said any decision to axe the Forestry Commission would wreck the “delicate balance” of organisations that ran the area.

The commission is responsible for 145 square miles of woods and heathland, as well as paths, cycle tracks and 134 rural car parks.

It is also a major shareholder in Forest Holidays, an independent company that runs the Forest campsites.

But the commission, which employs 100 people in Wiltshire, Dorset and the New Forest, could be axed under plans to slash the number of quangos, Government-appointed advisory and administrative organisations.

Scores of other bodies across the country are also under threat. However, Britain’s National Park Authorities (NPA), including the New Forest, are understood to have been told that their future is secure.

If the Forestry Commission is scrapped ministers will either privatise the service or transfer its workload to the Department for Food and Rural Affairs.

Dr Lewis said: “It’s hard to see that any private organisation could be reliably entrusted with managing an area as delicate and sensitive as the New Forest.

“One of our objections to the original imposition of the National Park Authority was a fear that it would override the network of different organisations that usually interact to keep the future of the Forest on track.

“More recently the authority has shown itself to be more responsive to this network and the commission, in my view, is an essential piece of that jigsaw.”

Ministers have already agreed to scrap 180 quangos and are reviewing the future of 100 others – including the commission.

Barry Rickman, leader of New Forest District Council, said: “Given Britain’s horrendous debt I’m not surprised that everything is being looked at.’’