Neighbourhood planning

Draft Wellow Neighbourhood Plan – Regulation 16 consultation – 10 November to 18 December 2023

In October 2023 Wellow Parish Council submitted their draft Neighbourhood Plan to the New Forest National Park Authority and Test Valley Borough Council (as the Plan straddles the administrative areas of both planning authorities). The six-week public consultation on the submitted Wellow Neighbourhood Plan (and supporting documents) runs from Friday 10 November to 12 noon on Monday 18 December 2023. The consultation is being co-ordinated by Test Valley Borough Council, as the majority of the parish lies within their planning jurisdiction.

The consultation documents are available under the ‘Wellow Neighbourhood Plan’ tab at the bottom of this page. Further information is also available on the Wellow Parish Council website at Wellow Neighbourhood Plan – Wellow Parish and its future. (wellownhp.org.uk), which includes the evidence base documents.

A reference copy of the draft Wellow Neighbourhood Development Plan and supporting documents, along with paper copies of the representation form are also available at the National Park Authority’s office at Lymington Town Hall, Avenue Road, Lymington, SO41 9ZG.

Where possible, please provide any comments using the Consultation Form. Completed forms can be emailed to neighbourhoodplanning@testvalley.gov.uk or sent by post to:

• Neighbourhood Planning, Test Valley Borough Council, Beech Hurst, Weyhill Road, Andover, SP10 3AJ.

If you have any questions please contact the Test Valley Neighbourhood Planning team on 01264 368000 or neighbourhoodplanning@testvalley.gov.uk

Draft Ringwood Neighbourhood Plan 

In July 2023 Ringwood Town Council submitted their draft Neighbourhood Plan to the New Forest National Park Authority and New Forest District Council (as the Plan straddles the administrative areas of both planning authorities). The six-week public consultation on the submitted Ringwood Neighbourhood Plan (and supporting documents) ran from Friday 18 August to Friday 29 September 2023.

The draft Plan, supporting evidence base and all the representations received during the final Regulation 16 consultation will now be considered by an independent Examiner. This process will take place over winter 2023/24, with an Examiner’s Report expected in the first quarter of 2024.

In the meantime, further details on the consultation carried out between August and September 2023 can be found here: Ringwood Neighbourhood Plan – consultation 

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.