Historic building conservation and archaeology
From traditional cottages and farm buildings to buried remains that reveal how people have lived and worked here for centuries, heritage is a vital part of the National Park’s character.
Place
A living, working landscape
The New Forest is a living, working landscape.
It is sustained through support for cultural heritage, commoning, local produce, sustainable tourism, access to affordable homes and helping to attract high-value businesses and employees.
Our ReNew Place strategy
Our role as the local planning authority helps us to protect and enhance the National Park and to ensure the New Forest remains a living, working landscape.
Our planning policies are key in conserving and enhancing the special qualities that make the New Forest the place it is, including the distinctive New Forest character of our villages and landscapes, as well as meeting the needs of the 34,500 residents and over 2,000 businesses that operate within the National Park.
We deal with over 500 full planning applications a year, the vast majority of which are approved – 95% in 2024-25, as well as many other types of applications and pre-application enquiries. The approval rate reflects our close work with applicants and agents to achieve high-quality schemes, with many potential issues successfully resolved at either the pre-application stage or through negotiations with applicants during the application itself.
The Government’s National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) reiterates that England’s 10 National Parks have the highest status of protection in relation to landscape and scenic beauty; and that the scale and extent of development in National Parks should be limited.
The focus of new housing development within the New Forest National Park is therefore on small-scale schemes designed to meet local housing need.
Affordable housing
As set out in our Local Plan, providing new affordable housing for local people in identified housing need is a key policy objective, as the New Forest housing market makes it difficult for many local people to stay in the area.
More than 60 affordable homes are under construction at various development sites within the National Park, including the former Lyndhurst Park Hotel site, Whartons Lane in Ashurst and Church Lane in Sway. Planning permission has also been granted for 10 affordable dwellings for local people in housing need in Copythorne.
The new affordable housing delivered on these sites will enable people in housing need with a local connection to stay in the area.
Our Place programme
Planning enforcement
Ensuring the integrity of the planning system is maintained and that the National Park is protected from inappropriate development.
Our progress
Find out how we’re doing on our path to create a thriving New Forest.
