131 - New Forest : Detailed Statements of Environmental Opportunity

This section expands on the Headline Statements of Environmental Opportunity and provides further detail on each of the Statements of Environmental Opportunity.

SEO 1

SEO 1: Ensure that the internationally designated landscapes, habitats and species of the ancient woodland, wood pasture, inclosures, heaths and mires, forming the open access core of the National Park are maintained and enhanced, enabling them to support and benefit from the continuation of traditional commoners’ grazing. This will help to retain the cultural and historic features of this landscape, and maintain multiple ecosystem service benefits, particularly biodiversity, water regulation, carbon sequestration, sense of place and tranquillity, and recreation.

For example by:

• Maintaining appropriate levels of commoners’ grazing and vegetation management, on heath and wood pasture, to improve the condition of internationally designated semi-natural habitat, assist natural regeneration, promote a varied age structure, expand and link remnant areas, enhance biodiversity, and control invasive and alien species. This will also facilitate the continuation of the traditional pastoral economy and maintain the presence of commoners’ grazing stock which is an essential element in the sense of place and history, and of the visitor experience.
• Continuing woodland management, consistent with the Forest Design Plan and Crownland Management Plan, aimed at gradually increasing the proportion of native hardwood species, maintaining species and age diversity, encouraging natural regeneration, extending wood pasture, and reducing the extent of non-native species and the landscape impact of large coniferous blocks. This could also beneficially include measures to increase resilience to climate change and the associated increases in the incidence of pests and disease. Selective timber production in the form of high-quality hardwoods for construction and furniture, and continued clearance of softwoods, particularly as a biomass resource, would benefit from these activities, and there are links between the woodland industry and the viability of commoning.
• Ensuring that land management measures address the importance and condition of historic and archaeological features, particularly those associated with the long history of human occupation, and traditional land use practices – such as grazing, hunting and ship-building – which shaped this landscape. Appropriate management will respect and retain their presence and improve their condition, character, interpretation and landscape setting. The presence of links with historic practices and human utilisation is an important element of the tourism and recreation attraction.
• Conserving and improving the internationally recognised tranquil and dark-sky qualities by influencing built development, transport and major infrastructure proposals. Raising awareness and supporting the activities of local authorities and other partners will also help to enhance these aspects of the landscape, important for both recreation and sense of place.
• Developing and supporting the ‘Growing the Forest’ (Growing the Forest’ was an unsuccessful bid for NIA status but remains a potential vehicle for partnership working that is being promoted by the National Park Authority) initiative, and utilising areas identified under the Biodiversity Opportunity Area and similar exercises, to promote a landscape scale approach aimed at expanding the area to which heath, wetland, woodland and wood – pasture conservation and management is applied. This is likely to involve areas beyond the boundaries of the National Park and possibly link with areas of similar landscape in adjacent NCAs.

SEO 2

SEO 2: Conserve and improve local distinctiveness in the traditional commoners’ smallholdings, enclosed pastures, farmsteads, hamlets and settlements on the Forest fringe. These have strong functional and habitat links with the heaths, woodlands and wood pastures, and reflect the historic social, cultural and pastoral economic traditions of the landscape. Retention of these links is essential to maintain habitats, support continued commoning and retain a key element of the visitor experience.

For example by:

• Retaining and enhancing the historic patterns of enclosed pasture for back-up commoners’ grazing, resisting their subdivision and enlargement, and encouraging the provision of commoners’ housing and sympathetic farm diversification schemes that have clear potential landscape benefits, as exceptions to policy. Joint working with major landowners and estate managers will be an essential element of this activity.
• Providing advice and support to land managers and owners of enclosed land on the management of unimproved acid/neutral grassland, their historic boundaries (hedges, ditches, verges and boundary trees) small woodlands and recognised local wildlife sites. This will maintain traditional landscapes and their links with the traditions of the open forest, enhance habitats and species, maximise the availability of quality back-up grazing, reduce run-off, enhance water quality and increase flood alleviation.
• Supporting initiatives by the local planning authorities and other partners to conserve, raise awareness and encourage retention of the key characteristics of historic architecture which define local distinctiveness, the importance of design, the use of traditional local materials, and the impact of signage, lighting and boundary treatment on the local built and natural environments.
• Controlling development in sensitive areas, and, where it is permitted, ensuring that any new development is consistent with local character and contributes positively to the objectives of landscape, habitat and species management.
• Working with managers and owners to encourage and support improved management of private woodland, to enhance habitats and species diversity, capitalise on opportunities for renewable fuel and other wood product marketing, and potentially extend the area of heath and wood pasture.
• Support the use of traditional New Forest pony, cattle and pig breeds to maintain local distinctiveness and blood lines, retain the visible link with traditional practices that enrich the landscape, enhance the visitor experience and provide niche local produce.

SEO 3

SEO 3: Promote the extent of open access, the high-quality semi-natural environment and the strong sense of human history as a special landscape for recreation and tourism, and for the enhancement of health and wellbeing. Use opportunities to raise visitor awareness of these qualities, their sensitivities and management requirements, and the economic and social benefits of the visitor economy.

For example by:

• Through recreation management strategies, ensuring that the network of visitor facilities, access points, attractions and educational opportunities, enhances appreciation and understanding of the landscape, and encourages its responsible use, balanced with the need to manage impacts on sensitive habitats and species. This may require seasonal or temporary management, for example to protect nesting birds or through the introduction of access controls during very popular periods.
• Developing and pursuing partnership initiatives, including the involvement of local communities and user groups within the NCA and in adjacent urban areas, to raise awareness of the potential impacts of various recreational activities and behaviours on other users and on the special qualities of the landscape, particularly impacts on commoners’ stock and the sense of tranquillity.
• Securing the provision of additional green and blue infrastructure and outdoor recreational facilities within the New Forest and in adjacent areas, linked with the development and economic growth in south Hampshire, south-east Dorset and Wiltshire, designed to provide alternative destinations in areas that are less environmentally sensitive and close to major centres of population. The Test Valley Forest Park proposal has significant potential in this respect.

SEO 4

SEO 4: Ensure that the features of the Solent and Southampton Water coast, particularly the internationally designated mudflats, saline lagoons, salt meadows and geo-archaeological features, are retained, while enabling the operation of natural coastal processes and anticipating the effects of climate change. This will benefit flood risk alleviation and recreational use, control coastal erosion and provide opportunities for habitat creation.

For example by:

• Maintaining appropriate levels of grazing on salt marsh and beaches to improve the condition of internationally designated semi-natural habitat, expand and link remnant areas and enhance biodiversity. This will facilitate the continuation of the traditional pastoral economy and maintain the presence of commoners’ grazing stock which is an essential element in the sense of place and history, and of the visitor experience of the New Forest coast.
• Managing water levels to enhance conditions for wintering and breeding birds which will enhance biodiversity and recreation use, and retain important salt marsh and reedbed habitats.
• Working with landowners and land managers on the potential for managed realignment of the coastline consistently with the Shoreline Management Plan, and managing the impact on coastal habitats. Some areas may be lost and need to be re-created inland.
• Working with coastal communities and private landowners to raise awareness of the dynamism of coastal processes, the need for mitigation land to encourage natural physical processes and habitat retreat, and the role of coastal features in flood regulation and alleviation.
• Developing geodiversity awareness in the National Character Area, focusing on the Barton Cliffs geological Site of Special Scientific Interest and the management required to maintain its condition.

SEO 5

SEO 5: Support and develop the ‘catchment project’ across the internationally recognised aquatic environments of the New Forest, Hampshire Avon and Blackwater drainage systems. The aim will be to achieve co-ordinated and multiple benefits for habitats and species, recreational use, water and carbon retention and water quality, climate change resilience, flood regulation and flood alleviation while reducing soil erosion and agricultural run-off.

For example by:

• Working with partners to develop a landscape scale strategy to improve the management and raise awareness of the aquatic environments of the New Forest, recognised by their Ramsar designation, and taking advantage of existing projects such as the Million Ponds Project,
  the New Forest Pondscape Project and Water Framework Directive initiatives and resources.
• Restoring the natural functioning courses of the New Forest streams to improve and enhance the hydrology of their wet heath and valley mire habitats.
• Implementing a dedicated and integrated management approach to the lower Hampshire Avon to create a naturally functioning river system to improve habitats and species and produce a river re-connected
  with its flood plain and watermeadows, resilient to climate change and reflecting its historic and cultural heritage. Co-operative working with landowners and land managers to explore this and address the land management implications will be essential.
• Developing a collaborative working approach to identify solutions and continuation of the programme aimed at the eradication of non-native invasive species.