Neighbourhood planning

Submission draft Lymington & Pennington Neighbourhood Plan – consultation

Lymington & Pennington Town Council have submitted their Regulation 16 Submission draft Neighbourhood Plan to the New Forest National Park Authority and New Forest District Council. As the designated Neighbourhood Area includes land within both planning authority areas, the National Park Authority and District Council are running a joint consultation on the draft Plan. The consultation runs from 18 April – to 30 May 2025 and all of the relevant consultation documents are available to inspect at the National Park Authority’s office at Lymington Town Hall. The consultation material is also available online via the New Forest District Council website at https://www.newforest.gov.uk/lymingtonandpenningtonplan

Wellow Neighbourhood Plan – ‘made July 2024’

The draft Wellow Neighbourhood Plan was subject to local referendum on 11 July 2024.  At this referendum a total of 91% of those who voted supported the plan, with a turn-out of 23%. Following this positive public endorsement, we formally adopted (or ‘made’) the Wellow Neighbourhood Plan at the full Authority meeting on 25 July 2024 for the part of the parish within the National Park. The statutory ‘Decision Statement’ and adopted Neighbourhood Plan are available via the ‘Wellow Neighbourhood Plan’ tab below. The adopted Wellow Neighbourhood Plan forms part of the statutory ‘development plan’ for the part of the New Forest National Park in Wellow parish.

If you have any questions regarding the Plan or the referendum please contact the Test Valley Neighbourhood Planning team on 01264 368000 or neighbourhoodplanning@testvalley.gov.uk  or view the information available at: Wellow Neighbourhood Development Plan | Test Valley Borough Council

Ringwood Neighbourhood Plan ‘made’ July 2024

The draft Ringwood Neighbourhood Plan was subject to local referendum on 4 July 2024. At this referendum a total of 83% of those who voted supported the plan, with a turn-out of 59%. Following this positive public endorsement, we formally adopted (or ‘made’) the Ringwood Neighbourhood Plan at the full Authority meeting on 25 July 2024 for the part of the parish within the National Park. The statutory ‘Decision Statement’ and adopted Neighbourhood Plan are available via the ‘Ringwood Neighbourhood Plan’ tab below. The adopted Ringwood Neighbourhood Plan forms part of the statutory ‘development plan’ for the part of the New Forest National Park in Ringwood parish.

New Milton Neighbourhood Plan – ‘made’ July 2021

The draft New Milton Neighbourhood Plan was subject to local referendum on 6 May 2021. At this local referendum a total of 88% of those who voted supported the Neighbourhood Plan, with a turn-out of 35%. Following this positive public endorsement, we formally adopted (or ‘made’) the New Milton Neighbourhood Plan at the full Authority meeting on 1 July 2021 for the part of the parish within the National Park. The statutory ‘Decision Statement’ and adopted Neighbourhood Plan are available via the ‘New Milton Neighbourhood Plan’ tab below.

The adopted New Milton Neighbourhood Plan forms part of the statutory ‘development plan’ for the part of the New Forest National Park in New Milton parish.

Hythe & Dibden Neighbourhood Plan – ‘made’ December 2019

The final draft version of the Hythe & Dibden Neighbourhood Plan, incorporating the Examiner’s required modifications, was the subject of a local referendum on 29 October 2019. At the local referendum 84.8% of those who voted supported the Neighbourhood Plan, with a turn-out of 15%. Following this positive endorsement at referendum, we formally adopted (or ‘made’) the Hythe & Dibden Neighbourhood Plan at the full Authority meeting on 18 December 2019 for the part of the parish within the National Park. The ‘Decision Statement’ and adopted Neighbourhood Plan are available via the ‘Hythe and Dibden Neighbourhood Plan’ tab below.    The adopted Hythe & Dibden Neighbourhood Plan forms part of the statutory ‘development plan’ for the part of the New Forest National Park in Hythe & Dibden parish.

About Neighbourhood Plans

Neighbourhood Plans were introduced by the Localism Act (2011) to allow local communities to prepare a plan for development and land use in their area. More detail about how Neighbourhood Plans work and their preparation can be found on the Planning Portal and Communities and Local Government websites.

As the New Forest is a parished area, neighbourhood plans can be undertaken by parish or town councils. We have a role in supporting communities in preparing a neighbourhood plan by giving advice and assistance to the town/parish council. More detail can be found in our Neighbourhood Planning Protocol (April 2016), which sets out the support we can offer those preparing neighbourhood plans.

Hampshire County Council has also prepared a useful guide on its role in the neighbourhood planning process, explaining the main County Council services that may have to be considered when carrying out neighbourhood planning; links to relevant County Council information; and an explanation of the different roles of the County Council and the Authority in the neighbourhood planning process.

Neighbourhood Plan Areas

In order to start preparing a Neighbourhood Plan, a town/parish council first makes an application to the local planning authority for the designation of the area that their Neighbourhood Plan will cover. In accordance with Part 2 of the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012, we formally designated Neighbourhood Plan Areas for the part of the parishes of Milford-on-Sea; Totton and Eling; New Milton; Hythe and Dibden; Lymington & Pennington; Wellow; Fordingbridge; and Ringwood that lie within the National Park.

List of Neighbourhood Areas designated in the New Forest National Park

Our decision to designate the above Neighbourhood Plan Areas relates only to the part of the areas within the National Park. The reports confirming these designations and a map showing the areas designated within the National Park are available to download below.