| 1 |
Giving more than £400,000 in grants directly to local people and places to support dozens of innovative projects through the Sustainable Development Fund since April 2006 |
| 2 |
Helping to bring hundreds of thousands of pounds of extra money into the Forest to support commoning and other vital aspects of Forest life via LEADER and Heritage Lottery funding |
| 3 |
Fighting to protect the Park’s special qualities – for example, taking a leading role in opposing Southampton’s proposed ‘laser gateway’, which threatened the Park’s dark night-time skies, and on proposals to expand Bournemouth Airport and the north-south flightpath over the Forest, which threaten the Park’s tranquillity |
| 4 |
Helping to fund Land Rovers for the Agisters |
| 5 |
Backing the New Forest Tour bus, including production of a new audio guide |
| 6 |
Promoting New Forest produce – for example, the New Forest breakfast |
| 7 |
Dedicated support for commoning – including a major Commoning Review and securing significant increased financial support for commoners |
| 8 |
Running the commoners’ housing scheme |
| 9 |
Consulting on and defining the ‘special qualities’ of the National Park |
| 10 |
Setting up a small-grants scheme to fund access improvements |
| 11 |
Producing the ‘Living Register’ to capture the richness of local dialect and culture |
| 12 |
Working with partners to combat the threat of Bluetongue to New Forest animals |
| 13 |
Burying unsightly overhead power lines underground in a project with the Forestry Commission, the Verderers and Scottish and Southern Energy |
| 14 |
Providing a listening ear for the diverse voices in the Forest and a national voice for the Park with ministers and policy-makers |
| 15 |
Producing three Corporate Plans to guide the National Park Authority’s work |
| 16 |
Holding ‘New Forest, New Chapter’ workshops involving more than 100 people and 70 organisations to shape the Park’s plans for the future |
| 17 |
Commissioning the Forest Forge Youth Theatre Group to produce a play called Our Shout as a way of capturing young people’s views about the future of the National Park |
| 18 |
Producing drafts of the first National Park Plan and Recreation Management Strategy for public consultation |
| 19 |
Jointly funding rangers with the Forestry Commission, the National Trust and Hampshire County Council |
| 20 |
Leading a major project on maritime archaeology |
| 21 |
Taking on the role of planning authority for the National Park and dealing with more than 2,500 applications in the first two years |
| 22 |
Designating new Conservation Areas and reviewing existing ones |
| 23 |
Being the first nationally to adopt a Minerals and Waste Core Strategy, working in partnership with Hampshire County Council and Southampton and Portsmouth City Councils and also the first National Park Authority to adopt such a strategy under the new planning system |
| 24 |
Showing that the Authority means business on planning enforcement – by issuing a ‘stop notice’ on inappropriate works and prosecuting people who flout enforcement notices requiring the removal of unauthorised mobile homes, for example |
| 25 |
Introducing the new 1App planning system successfully |
| 26 |
Running a grant scheme to help support appropriate repairs to historic buildings in the Forest |
| 27 |
Working to reduce animal accidents – leading imaginative campaigns such as the animal emergency hotlines card, temporary roadside warning triangles and the ‘I go slow for ponies’ car stickers |
| 28 |
Helping to tackle litter – working with partners in ‘Forest Force’ to reduce the problem of unsightly and unhealthy litter |
| 29 |
Marking the National Park boundary with appropriate and attractive signs made locally from trees grown within the boundary |
| 30 |
Encouraging the removal of more than 120 redundant or damaged roadside signs that were a blot on the National Park landscape |
| 31 |
Establishing a major partnership with the Ninth Centenary Trust to turn the New Forest Museum and Library into the New Forest Centre promoting national park purposes |
| 32 |
Setting up and leading the Educators’ Forum to co-ordinate work on outdoor education in the National Park |
| 33 |
Producing an Outdoor Education guide called Learning Outside the Classroom in the New Forest National Park and an attractive and extensive range of education factsheets |
| 34 |
Establishing a travel grant scheme to enable otherwise excluded groups to visit the National Park |
| 35 |
Establishing a growing National Park events programme to complement the work of others such as the Forestry Commission |
| 36 |
Setting up pilot Local Information Points in Beaulieu, Brockenhurst and Burley |
| 37 |
Using a mobile unit, the National Park Explorer, to take messages about understanding, enjoying and caring for the National Park to the places that people visit |
| 38 |
Putting up National Park awareness panels at many main visitor sites |
| 39 |
Producing attractive information for visitors and local people in publications such as the Pocket Guide leaflet, the Forest Focus newspaper, the Park Life newsletter and the New Forest Today magazine |
| 40 |
Producing a film called A Special Place to promote understanding and enjoyment of the Forest |
| 41 |
Creating a website that has quickly become the main source of information about the National Park including interesting features such as a ‘fun zone’ for children |
| 42 |
Running a prize-winning stand at the New Forest Show in both 2006, 2008 and 2009 |
| 43 |
Giving scores of talks about the National Park to local groups each year |
| 44 |
Dealing with hundreds of enquiries from the public via the main switchboard and the enquiries e-mail service |
| 45 |
Establishing links with the Chinese Association of Southampton and agreeing support for the ‘Mosaic’ project which aims to improve links between black and minority ethnic communities in Southampton and the New Forest National Park |
| 46 |
Establishing a comprehensive Photographic Library for the New Forest National Park |
| 47 |
Staging an annual photographic competition to promote the things that make the National Park special jointly with the Forestry Commission |
| 48 |
Establishing a clear corporate identity for the National Park |
| 49 |
Running the popular ‘Aren’t Birds Brilliant! In the New Forest’ project jointly with the RSPC and the Forestry Commission |
| 50 |
Supporting the visit of the Tour of Britain cycle race to the National Park in 2007 |
| 51 |
Using GIS (Geographic Information System) imaginatively including making interactive maps available to the public via the website |
| 52 |
Appointing members and staff and setting up the organisation from scratch |
| 53 |
Establishing and running the administration of the National Park Authority and its committees |
| 54 |
Producing an Equality and Diversity Strategy |
| 55 |
Establishing and administering the New Forest Access Forum |
| 56 |
Providing the secretariat for the New Forest Consultative Panel |
| 57 |
Responding to dozens of local, regional and national consultations with an impact of the New Forest National Park |
| 58 |
Organising three ministerial visits |
| 59 |
Organising visits for overseas dignitaries from the Netherlands and Denmark among others |
| 60 |
Commissioning a first peer review in 2008-9 as a ‘health check’ on the progress of the New Forest National Park Authority after a couple of years |
