Have National Park bosses learned from their mistakes?

Thousands of New Forest residents staged a mass revolt after the National Park Authority (NPA) published a highly controversial set of proposals that included road tolls, dog-free zones and tighter restrictions on recreational horse keeping.

Forest Uprising and other pressure groups swung into action when the “draconian” measures were included in the NPA’s first management plan in 2008.

They marched on the organisation’s headquarters and also staged a series of public meetings at which critics condemned the document as an attack on their traditional way of life.

After a year of non-stop controversy the Lymington-based organisation backed down and ditched the proposals. after admitting: “We got it wrong.”

Now the NPA is drawing up a new management plan that will shape the Forest for the next five years.

But this time the authority is working in partnership with other organisations in a bid to prevent any repetition of the furore that greeted its first set of proposals.

One of the organisations involved in the process is New Forest District Council.

The new plan was debated at this week’s meeting of the council’s ruling cabinet, at which the chief executive, Dave Yates, acknowledged that the previous document “was not without an element of controversy”.

He added: “I must congratulate the NPA on adopting a very different approach this time. It’s been a very transparent process.”

The council leader, Cllr Barry Rickman, added: “This time a lot of organisations have been very complimentary about the plan. People feel they’re being listened to.”

Symbolising the closer links between the two authorities was the presence of the NPA’s chief executive, Alison Barnes.

She described the new plan as an update of the 2010 version and added: “It’s sought to identify what’s changed, including the absolutely imperative need to work in partnership.”

Supporters of the NPA point to the successes achieved so far.

These include the launch of England’s largest agri-environment scheme.

The Higher Level Stewardship project has secured almost £20 million of funding to support the ancient practice of commoning, conserve internationally important habitats and maintain historic sites.

Another triumph has been the growing popularity of the open-topped bus service that provides visitors with a car-free way of exploring the area.

The award-winning New Forest Tour covers most of the National Park and has been used by more than 62,000 passengers since 2010.

The new management plan aims to tackle a wide range of environmental issues, including traffic congestion and the problems caused by mass cycling events.

The NPA has pledged to monitor the new charter for cycle event organisers.

Persuading energy suppliers to replace pylons with underground cables, reducing the impact of HGVs by encouraging drivers to take “more appropriate” routes, and de-cluttering the Forest by securing the removal of unnecessary signs is also on the agenda.

Other priorities include working with Highways England – formerly the Highways Agency – to reduce delays on the A31 and M27.

An introduction to the document describes it as a “supplement” to the 2010 version.

It adds: “The original plan included a number of priority actions covering the period up to 2015, many of which have been completed or are underway.

“The main purpose of the update is to set out a series of new or revamped actions for the next five years.

“An important feature of this document is that it has produced jointly by many of the statutory organisations in the National Park.

“It also includes work that a number of other local organisations are planning to undertake in the near future and it is hoped that over time further Forest organisations and communities will suggest their own priorities to the added to the document.

“The update is an attempt to bring together a broad range of actions which benefit the Forest and its communities.”

A council spokesman added: “Unlike the 2010 plan this has been produced as a joint plan by a partnership group comprising many of the statutory bodies in the Forest, including the district council.

“No particular issue dominated the responses to the document. Unusually, a considerable number of the comments supported the plan.”

It’s a far cry from the dark days of 2008, when the NPA’s first major blueprint made headlines for all the wrong reasons.

The Forest’s two MPs presented Parliament with a 7,200-name petition urging the Government to force the organisation to scrap its proposals.

Lindsay Cornish, the NPA’s first chief executive, suddenly found herself at the centre of the storm.

In June 2009 the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) received an anonymous 2,000-word letter. Said to have been written by senior NPA staff it cited their “anger, frustration and disillusionment” at the way she was running the organisation.

Less than a month later she quit her £90,000-a-year post at the NPA’s annual meeting.

In what proved to be a PR triumph she was succeeded by the affable Barrie Foley, whose management style was radically different from that of Ms Cornish.

He adopted a more conciliatory tone and in September 2009 it was announced that the hotly-debated plans had been scrapped.

The following year Mr Foley was succeeded by Ms Barnes. She continued the charm offensive, visiting every parish council in the district, and relations between the NPA and other organisations have gone from strength to strength.

Desmond Swayne, Tory MP for New Forest West, was once one of the NPA’s strongest critics. He said at the meeting: “The new management plan is on my summer reading list but I haven’t got to it yet. A good sign is that no-one has contacted me to complain about it, unlike last time when I was deluged. That’s got to be a good thing.”