National park could be reduced to 'petting zoo', warn Forest conservationists

THE New Forest could be reduced to a country park and petting zoo if plans to build 10,500 new homes are agreed, a leading conservation group has warned.

The alert, which was issued by New Forest Association’s habitat and landscape committee chairman Brian Tarnoff, follows a recent public hearing of New Forest District Council’s development plan for housing in the region over the next 20 years.

The special session, which was called to consider how the environment will be protected, was also attended by representatives from the RSPB and the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust.

Claiming that NFDC produced no proposals to ensure the protection of the New Forest from the impact of thousands of new homes, Mr Tarnoff warned at a “conservative estimate” these new houses would bring an extra 1.3m day visitors into the national park each year.

Speaking at a meeting of the Verderers’ Court, he stormed: “The time has come for the Forest to take the case of its future protection to the nation and to ask for the necessary resources and committement. Otherwise central government will continue to shoehorn in damaging development to deliver planning policy, while ignoring all the supposed legal protections of the national park and habitat designation.

“We are at a tipping point, the Forest could be reduced to a country park with an incidental petting zoo – please help us fight this chilling possibility.”

Referring to ongoing examination of NFDC’s plans to build 10,500 new homes in the towns and villages surrounding the New Forest, Mr Tarnoff warned that housing developers had made a case for even more homes to be built, by “touting the fantasy” that these could be mitigated by a few rangers with leaflets, paths, benches and dog-poo bins.

Claiming that during the hearing the inspectors had not been made fully aware that current mitigation measures were not working affectively, Mr Tarnoff said the Forest was heading towards a crisis point, with dogs attacking and chasing livestock and livestock then turning on humans.

Mr Tarnoff said that during the hearing the New Forest Association had also argued the green belt should not be released for housing, but instead preserved for nature recovery networks, back-up grazing for communing, and alternative green space to mitigate the new housing proposed.

Appealing to the court, Mr Tarnoff urged the verderers to speak up for the Forest as soon as possible by whatever channels it could use.

“For years we’ve had reports of habitat loss and species crashes in the UK and around the world, culminating with the recent assessment that a million species are at risk of extinction,” said Mr Tarnoff.

Pointing to recent UN research undertaken by scientists around the world, he said turning Forests, grasslands and other areas into farms, cities and developments was the greatest cause of reduced biodiversity because it was leaving plants and animals homeless.

Mr Tarnoff continued: “About three quarters of earth’s land, two-thirds of its oceans and 85% of crucial wetlands have been severely altered or lost, making it hard for species to survive.

“We ask the verderers to make their case directly to the inspectors, especially concerning current and future mitigation areas, the recreational pressure on the Crown Lands, and the need to preserve opportunities for back-up grazing.”

He said that in partnership with the national park and other authorities, the verderers must now begin to plan for the creation of landscape scale, high quality, alternative recreation spaces such as Moors Valley near Ringwood.

He also said that money and personnel must be found to properly enforce the Forest’s bylaws.