YOU would assume that when the powers-that-be create a national park, it would mean it would have a special status that would protect it from many of the indignities heaped on other areas.
Yet it seems that bosses of our own New Forest will have to fight to stop fracking licences being granted there, as we report today on page 9.
It is hardly surprising that many of the area’s big hitters, including Julian Lewis MP, are already lining up against the proposal.
Leaving aside the rights and wrongs of fracking itself, if the ancient landscape is allowed to be carved up by shale gas prospectors there seems little point in the Forest continuing to have national park status at all.
If fracking was allowed, one wonders what would be considered inappropriate uses of the Forest.
The national park was created to preserve a vital part of our history – for the people who live there and the enjoyment of visitors.
Fracking has no place there.
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