Commoning at risk due to lack of affordable supply of back-up grazing, says New Forest Association report

THE future of commoning is under threat due to a lack of ‘vital’ back-up grazing, a leading conservation charity is warning.

Agricultural land away from the open Forest – known as back-up grazing – is where sick or injured animals are removed, ponies and cattle can be kept over the winter and given supplementary feed, and hay can be made in the summer.

The “invisible” resource is in short supply, the New Forest Association says, and often too expensive to rent or buy, according to a questionnaire filled out by commoners.

It says the results of the survey demonstrate commoners need a considerable area of private grazing land to support their animals when they are taken off the Forest, and without access to this it is “doubtful” that many would be able to continue. This would see a “rapid decline in the area’s environmental and landscape value, as well its attractiveness to the many visitors who come to the New Forest”.

A spokesperson for the association said: “The sight of commoners’ livestock roaming freely on the unenclosed landscape and in the towns and villages of the New Forest gives the area a unique heritage status and contributes to the local tourist economy.

“The grazing and browsing of commoners’ cattle, pigs, and ponies underpin the character of the New Forest’s ecosystem. “These highly visible effects of commoning, however, do not acknowledge the invisible resource of back-up land that is required to support the whole system.”

Chair of the New Forest Association, Sarah Nield, added: “The stark reality is that unless adequate back-up grazing can be secured, the future of commoning and consequentially the unique environment and character of the Forest, is at risk.”

The association says that while the New Forest National Park Authority and New Forest District Council have made assurances in their respective Local Plans to safeguard commoning and the agricultural land used to back-up its traditional practices, both authorities have also adopted housing developments on greenfield sites.

As a result of changes to government policy, grazing land in and around the national park is at “significant risk”, it adds.

Dr Jo Ivey, who compiled the New Forest Association report, said: “Given the pressure on underdeveloped land in the area around the national park, these recent developments pose a considerable threat to the future of the limited area of greenfield land in the parishes that come under New Forest District Council for planning control, and therefore to commoning in the New Forest and with it, the future of the Forest itself’.

Chair of the New Forest Commoners Defence Association, Andrew Parry-Norton, told the A&T there needs to be “extra protection” for back up grazing.

He explained: “At the moment, there is no designated protection from planning at all; an example of that is in the Waterside at the moment, where there is housing that is being put forward on land which has always been used as back-up grazing. Back-up grazing should be recognised within planning, and taken into account that it is extremely important.

“We’re hoping any [future] environmental scheme we go into will recognise back-up grazing for how important it is and reward landowners who have back up grazing – I think the landlords need some sort of reward to maintain that for back up grazing, and not be persuaded to let it out for more money for use as paddocks of even sell it.”

Interim head of planning and place at the NPA, David Illsley, said the importance of commoning to the landscape and rural economy of the New Forest “cannot be underestimated”. He added: “The system of management that commoning represents has ensured that the New Forest maintains a special cultural heritage and a complex mosaic of habitats at a scale found nowhere else in Western Europe.

“These support many rare and unusual species now uncommon elsewhere in England. Commoning in the New Forest stretches back over 1,000 years but is now facing a number of challenges that threaten its future. “Alongside changes in agricultural support and the challenges of managing free roaming livestock in a lived-in landscape, this research highlights the threat to commoning from land use change.”

The adopted Local Plan for the national park “seeks to maintain the supply of land available for back up grazing, recognising that it is under pressure from higher value land uses, including housing and recreational horse keeping”, he said, adding: “With the Local Plan currently under review, the report is a timely contribution to the evidence that will inform the development of policies for the new Local Plan – due to be published for a further period of public consultation in late 2025.

“The New Forest is under significant development pressure to meet identified housing needs, and this evidence on the importance of grazing land is a key consideration in the preparation of the revised Local Plan.”