Forest of Bere Forest For further information: 0845 603 5636* (free textphone) 0845 603 5625 www.hants.gov.uk/countryside-access-plans Countryside Access Plan * Calls will cost up to 4p per minute for BT customers. Calls made using for the other service providers or mobiles may cost more. Alternatively, call Forest of Bere 01329 225398 – standard and local rates apply to this number. 2008-2013 CCountrysideountryside AAccessccess ccovers.inddovers.indd 11-2-2 66/11/08/11/08 110:54:400:54:40 PETERSFIELD 3 M EAST HAMPSHIRE AONB EASTLEIGH A3 FAIR OAK A335 BISHOPS WALTHAM SWANMORE CLANFIELD A35 WALTHAM CHASE A334 A32 HEDGE SOUTHAMPTON END HORNDEAN DENMEAD A3025 A3051 WATERLOOVILLE LOCKS A27 HEATH M27 HAVANT FAREHAM WEST SUSSEX Legend Forest of Bere CAP Area PORTSMOUTH Motorways A3023 CHICHESTER HARBOUR A32 AONB A Roads A288 Rivers Built up areas GOSPORT HAYLING ISLAND Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty County Boundary 0 0.5 1 2 3 4 Miles © Crown copyright. All rights reserved, HCC 100019180 2008 The Forest of Bere area Hampshire County Council would like to thank the many people – local residents, landowners and land managers, user-group representatives, local authority officers, elected members and a host of others – who were involved in the work to produce this plan. The product of their efforts and support is a framework which will enable the County Council and others to work together to improve countryside access across Hampshire and to make it available for the widest possible range of people to enjoy. Forest of Bere Contents Introduction…………………………………………………2 The Forest of Bere area………………………………..... 3 Vision ……………………………………………………...... 4 Summary of findings …………………..…………….….... 4 Main issues …………………………………………………. 5 Guide to the action tables …………………………..…... 6 Issues and proposed actions ……………………….. 8 - 35 Appendix 1 – Extent of rights of way network Appendix 2 – Overview of access 1 Countryside Access Plan Introduction This Countryside Access Plan (CAP) for Each area CAP should be read in the Forest of Bere area is one of seven conjunction with the County Overview area plans which, together with an eighth CAP, which reports on the research done ‘County Overview’ CAP, form the Rights to produce the plans, identifies the of Way Improvement Plan (ROWIP) for County Council’s main, county-wide aims the county of Hampshire. for improving access to Hampshire’s countryside and explains how these plans The duty for local highway authorities to are influencing the way the County produce a ROWIP was established Council delivers its services. through the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (CROW). A ROWIP is The area CAPs explore in greater detail intended to provide the means by which the specific issues affecting enjoyment of the highway authority will manage and the countryside in a particular part of the improve its rights of way network to meet county and propose actions to address the Government’s aim of better provision them. These actions are intentionally for walkers, cyclists, equestrians and broadly-defined and aspirational. They do people with mobility problems. ROWIPs not necessarily relate to increasing public are closely linked with Local Transport access to the countryside; many of them Plans, with the aim of delivering a more are about enhancing and improving the integrated approach to sustainable existing network. transport in rural and urban areas; where The area covered by each CAP has been the two plans share common aims this determined broadly by landscape also creates further opportunities for the character, as this reflects factors such as funding of rights of way improvements. land use, demography, soil type and Hampshire County Council’s ‘Countryside topography, which closely affect rights of Access Plans’ relate not just to the rights way, countryside sites and other access to of way network but to the whole range of the countryside. opportunities for people to enjoy The CAPs were initially published as drafts Hampshire’s countryside. These include for consultation, with a minimum of 3 areas designated as Open Access under months allowed for comment and CROW, sites managed by the County feedback from the public, user groups, Council, by other local authorities and by local authorities, government agencies and organisations such as the National Trust other organisations. The Forest of Bere and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife CAP was the first of the area plans to be Trust, together with Forestry Commission published and 23 written responses were woodlands, MoD land and permissive received during the consultation period. access provided by farmers and other This document is a revision of that private landowners. consultation draft, which has taken into account all the comments and feedback received. 2 Forest of Bere The Forest of Bere area The Forest of Bere is an area of Today the area is predominately ancient approximately 26,000 hectares which woodland and lowland farmland which is stretches across south-east Hampshire increasingly under threat from from Eastleigh to the border with West development and the pressures of being Sussex and to the south of the East close to large urban areas. Fifteen percent Hampshire Area of Outstanding Natural of the land area is designated a Site of Beauty. The southern, eastern and Importance for Nature Conservation and western borders are flanked by large nearly 6% is designated a Site of Special conurbations which support nearly 40% of Scientific Interest. The Forest of Bere is Hampshire’s population. also a stronghold for the Small-leaved Lime, holding 40% of Hampshire’s total. From the time of the Saxon occupation to the early 19th century, the Forest of Bere There are approximately 380 km (240 (which takes its name from its later miles) of public rights of way, 2 major dedication as a royal hunting forest by the country parks, 3 large areas of Forestry Normans) was managed by local Commission land with significant access, communities to produce food and raw and numerous smaller countryside sites materials. This management and the local and nature reserves. Rights of Open geographical conditions created a Access apply only to Portsdown Hill and a landscape mosaic of wood pasture, few commons within the Forest of Bere heathland, meadows and farmland. Three boundary. main rivers dissect the land from north to The Forest of Bere lies within that part of south and hedgerows dating from pre- South Hampshire in which Hampshire medieval to present day create a County Council is working through the patchwork stretching from west to east. Partnership for Urban South Hampshire From the 14th century Royal Forests were (PUSH) to create a better place for all broken up to make way for agricultural who live, work and spend their leisure improvements, creating opportunities for time in this area. This Countryside Access higher yields. In 1812, Bere was the last Plan supports the objectives of the substantial Forest to be removed from developing Green Infrastructure Strategy Forest Law and was divided up through for South Hampshire, which aims to parliamentary enclosures; much of the create a planned network of common land was bought by noblemen multifunctional greenspaces, landscapes, and others that could afford it. natural elements in the towns and the links between them. 3 Countryside Access Plan Vision In support of the Green Infrastructure Strategy for Urban South Hampshire, the vision for countryside access in the Forest of Bere area is: To provide local residents and those in the adjacent conurbations with sustainable opportunities to access and enjoy the ‘countryside on their doorstep’. In particular the Countryside Access Plan for the Forest of Bere aims to ensure that access opportunities within the area, both new and existing: • enable local people to access and enjoy high quality countryside in the Forest • best meet the needs and demands of users whilst maximising benefits to land managers and owners • are promoted to all sections of the community, including information on how to behave responsibly in the countryside and have respect for those who live and work there • respect sensitive habitats and • provide opportunities to educate local people about the wider landscape, history and countryside of the Forest (educational access provision). This plan supports the overall vision for the Local Transport Plan of a strategy that enhances quality of life and economic prosperity by connecting people, communities, employment, goods, services and amenities. Summary of Findings The Forest of Bere is a rural area within a Landowners, farmers and other land short distance of several substantial managers find that public access involves conurbations, but at present it is difficult extra work and expense, and can have an for people living in the nearby towns to adverse affect on land management, get out into the area to enjoy the whether for production or for nature countryside. conservation. This can affect their willingness to increase access across their There is a particular lack of off-road land. routes for cyclists and equestrians. Many horses are kept in this area, and those The following pages provide a rationale for routes which do exist are heavily used. each of the 14 issues identified within the This, coupled with predominantly clay Forest of Bere area and propose actions soils, means that multi-use routes are in that could be undertaken to help to worse condition in the Forest of Bere resolve them. The order in which these than in the rest of the county overall. are set out is not indicative of priority. 4 Forest of Bere Main issues The Forest of Bere is an attractive rural area where people living in the adjoining urban areas can enjoy the countryside close to where they live. However: 1. There are difficulties in getting to the 8. Many farmers and landowners find that Forest of Bere to enjoy the providing public access entails a work countryside (page 8) load and financial burden (page 22) 2.