Lymington Society slams development proposals as NFDC puts Local Plan out for consultation

NFDC’s housing plans for Lymington are “totally inappropriate” and based on “flawed” calculations, according to a town conservation group.

The Lymington Society has drawn up a wishlist of recommendations for the authority to consider during the first consultation over its Local Plan review, which will guide future development.

Society chair Don Mackenzie said there needs to be greater restrictions on the number of “unwanted” retirement flats in Lymington, alongside more “affordable” housing.

His comments came after NFDC’s cabinet agreed to put its Local Plan, drawn up in 2020, out for a six-week public consultation.

The plan sets out a vision for development outside of the national park, including an extra 10,420 homes to be built by 2036.

NFDC’s cabinet agreed to run a consultation on the “issues and scope” of the plan, including housing needs, health and wellbeing, environmental protection, and sustainable transport.

However, due to the “early stage” of the plan it does not include any specific development sites or policy proposals.

Mr Mackenzie said: “The society feels strongly the housing targets mandated by the government for the New Forest district are based on flawed calculations and are totally inappropriate for an area of such environmental and natural significance and (we) urge the council to use the strongest possible arguments to resist the imposition of these levels of new housing in this area.

“We would like to see far tougher rules on the provision of expensive retirement flats and an emphasis on the provision of a wide range of properties to help maintain a balance of property types and tenures.

“The fact remains that Lymington has had far too many developments of expensive retirement flats that have unbalanced the property mix in the town and increased the proportion of older people, to the detriment of younger people seeking to raise families in the town.”

Lymington Society members said they want to see a “determined push” from NFDC to increase the number of affordable homes by implementing a “realistic” percentage of them at all development sites.

Alongside this request, the society is calling for a “reform” of viability calculations routinely used by developers to “get out of their obligations” to provide affordable homes.

The society also called for the introduction of what it called “community based supplementary planning guidance” for Lymington Town Hall and Solent Mead.

“With the Town Hall site likely to be vacated and sold by the NFDC in 2027, the society is demanding NFDC sets up a full community based consultation on how the site should be developed,” Mr Mackenzie said. “This consultation should then be used to agree a supplementary planning document, which any future developer has to take into account in their plans for the site.”

He continued: “This is of course a time of change for the planning system, and we need to accept that there will be more homes being built than in the recent past. However, the society has some major concerns that they would like the local plan review to address.

“It would be unacceptable if this vital opportunity to develop and enhance the centre of Lymington, is left to be decided by the highest bidder, without the community having its say in what is needed on the site to ensure that we have a development that we can be proud of for the future.”

The council is hosting seven drop-in sessions around the district to provide residents the opportunity to discuss the plan directly with officers.

For more information on the Local Plan review and the drop-in sessions visit newforest.gov.uk/article/3683/Local-Plan-review

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