Response to the Written Ministerial Statement on protected landscapes
PUBLISHED ON: 24 JUNE 2021The New Forest National Park Authority welcomes today’s written ministerial statement which outlines the government’s intentions regarding protected landscapes.
New Forest National Park Authority Chair Gavin Parker said: ‘We are at a critical point for the New Forest with the challenges of the climate and nature emergencies; changes in land management; and pressures from new development and recreational use.
‘We and our partners have already achieved many gains for nature with a new RSPB nature reserve, a multimillion-pound wetland restoration scheme and a lottery-funded programme improving woodlands and supporting commoning. However, there is much more we urgently need to do.
‘The statement’s themes of climate, nature, people and place echo those of our draft Partnership Plan which sets out the future of the New Forest for all those who help care for it. We launched our public consultation on the draft Plan yesterday (23 June) and need as many people as possible to have their say.
‘There is a thirst and willingness in our localities to build back better, greener, healthier and wilder. We’re calling on our partners, landowners, businesses and communities to join us in achieving a fundamental shift in transforming our landscape and placing our collective energy and resources into getting things done.
‘We were pleased that the Minister recognised that the New Forest has its own distinct identity and that local management, in particular in relation to planning, should remain.
‘The funding from the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme gives us the opportunity to begin to tailor subsidies to our local circumstances and to support our landowners in delivering the vital environmental improvements we need to make the Forest fit for the future.
‘We look forward to working with national government and other protected landscapes in a concerted way to ensure a widespread and sustained recovery of the climate, nature and ourselves.’
People are invited to complete the draft Partnership Plan consultation at www.newforestnpa.gov.uk/yourfuturenewforest.
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