New Forest National Park Authority Meeting NFNPA 481 /15 16 July 2015 Chief Executive’s Report

NFNPA 481/15 NEW FOREST NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY AUTHORITY MEETING – 16 July 2015

CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S REPORT

Report by: Alison Barnes, Chief Executive

Summary: This report covers the period since the Authority meeting on 26 March 2015. The report has been formatted to accord with the ‘Protect, Enjoy, Prosper and Aiming for Excellence’ themes from the 2011-15 Business Plan, summarised below:

Protect Enjoy Prosper

Our priorities: Our priorities: Our priorities:

. Enhancing the Forest’s . Enabling high quality . Supporting a distinctive landscapes and experiences of the local economy habitats National Park . Improving affordable . Achieving excellence in . Improving understanding housing provision development and of the special qualities of planning the National Park . Promoting sustainable transport . Conserving strong local . Agreeing positive distinctiveness and the recreation management . Encouraging character of the historic sustainable living environment . Leading on education about the New Forest . Encouraging environmentally sustainable land management Aiming for Excellence

In all we do: . seeking to provide the highest quality of service . working closely with others in championing the Forest . achieving an efficient and high performing organisation

Recommendation: To note the report Contact: Alison Barnes Tel: 01590 646633, Email: [email protected]

Equality & Diversity Implications: There are no equality or diversity implications arising directly from this report.

New Forest National Park Authority Meeting NFNPA 481/15 16 July 2015 Chief Executive’s Report

NFNPA 481/15 NEW FOREST NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY

AUTHORITY MEETING – 16 July 2015

CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S REPORT

Report by: Alison Barnes, Chief Executive

INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW

The New Forest Land Advice Service, which recently saw its fifth anniversary, has helped over 200 commoners submit their applications for the new Basic Payment Scheme.

Often working late into the night, the surgeries helped people through the complicated online system. Due to the unusual method of rearing and managing livestock in the New Forest, the new criteria pose some rare challenges. Many commoners own or rent small parcels of land, below the minimum amount needed to claim payments, as they mainly use the common land of the New Forest to graze their stock. Some also don’t have access to broadband or computers to complete the application process, so the Service’s assistance has been invaluable in supporting commoners to get onto the new scheme.

The formal consultation for the Management Plan, the final stage of a wide number of discussions across the Forest received around 30 comments, many of which were supportive of this strategy document which guides the work of many organisations across the National Park.

Our focus now turns to updating our planning policies in light of many changes in Government policy and in the planning system, with the consultation process starting off at the New Forest Show on the 20 key issues we have identified.

Our education officers held a successful conference for primary school teachers from nine local schools, sharing ideas on learning outside the classroom and how wild play can help children understand their natural surroundings. Secondary age pupils from local schools are attending their own ‘Our Forest, Our Future’ conference on 10 July, which we are hosting, supported by the New Forest Association.

Since the beginning of April more than 450 people have taken part in our guided cycle sessions using adapted bikes suitable for people with a range of disabilities. Now known as PEDALL, the project is developing its own not-for-profit organisation and trustees are currently being sought to drive this further in the future.

The current year of the Local Sustainable Transport Fund work has focussed on supporting bus services through visitor spend. Working with bus operators, the summer season has seen the launch of three new services (Forest bus, Forest bus baby and a service from to Paultons Park) plus the existing three New Forest Tour services and the Beach Bus. These services give both residents and visitors a wide range of options to travel car-free, helping reduce congestion and emissions while supporting the local economy and bus services.

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DELIVERY OF NATIONAL PARK PURPOSES AND FUNCTIONS The report has been formatted to accord with the ‘Protect, Enjoy, Prosper’ objectives from the Business Plan, a summary of which is set out on the first page. In addition, a fourth section, ‘Aiming for Excellence’, summarises those activities that support and contribute overall to all our work, and the final section lists Members’ activities and events.

1 Protect

1.1 Enhancing the Forest’s landscapes and habitats

New Forest Landscape Partnership, Our Past, Our Future

The Our Past, Our Future Landscape Partnership Scheme round two application was submitted to Heritage Lottery Fund on 22 May 2015. The Scheme involves the following partners: New Forest National Park Authority, Forestry Commission, and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, Natural England, National Trust, New Forest Centre, Land Advice Service, Commoners Defence Association, Freshwater Habitats Trust, Hampshire County Council and Beaulieu Estate. It includes 22 projects with an overall budget of £4,371,781 which will attract an HLF grant of £2,828,000. A decision will be made at an HLF committee meeting on 22 September 2015. If successful, work on the projects will commence shortly afterwards.

Undergrounding of high voltage pylons at Hale Purlieu

National Grid and their consultants have been working on a technical feasibility report over the last three months and have called a meeting to discuss the final report on 6 August in Lyndhurst. The invitees are representatives of Natural England, National Trust, the Verderers, Forestry Commission and ourselves. The decision whether to take the Hale Purlieu section of transmission line to the next stage of shortlisting will be taken by National Grid’s Stakeholders Advisory Group in September, based on the technical feasibility report prepared by National Grid.

Tranquillity Mapping

The final tranquillity map has been agreed with the steering group and is now available on our website. Our GIS system support team is preparing the digital data so that the mapping can be placed on our GIS system as a layer for use by our officers. It is anticipated that the Development Control and Recreation Management and Learning teams will find the mapping particularly useful as well as Planning Policy and other teams.

The GIS system support team will be liaising with the Forestry Commission, New Forest Association and Council to share the digital data. Electronic documents of the mapping have already been distributed to our partner organisations.

Community Wildlife Plans Project

The volunteer group is busy working on the River Blackwater to continue to remove Himalayan Balsam after the project began last summer. Two corporate groups have also been involved. Stream sampling training has been completed with the group so that they can collect data about the quality of the water and biodiversity in the river.

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We are continuing to work with Lymington and Pennington Town Council at Priestlands Pond to enhance the habitats in and around the wetland.

A Bioblitz event at Woodside Park in Lymington attracted approximately 20 people who recorded 130 species on the day.

New Forest Land Advice Service

The team have been extremely busy assisting commoners with their Basic Payment Scheme applications which are complicated in the case of the New Forest commoners. By the deadline for application submission Tracé Williams and Rhys Morgan, and to a lesser extent Julie Melin-Stubbs, had advised 209 commoners.

Growing the Forest and Ecology

Work commenced by Defra consultants on the valuation of ecosystem services (the benefits nature provides for society) across the Park. Staff have supported the research and are providing feedback on initial findings. This is part of a national pilot assessing a number of protected areas.

We have continued to facilitate the New Forest Amphibian and Reptile Monitoring Strategy; a partnership project to assess the status and distribution of smooth snakes (the Forest’s rarest and most important reptile) has been progressing since the award from the Sustainable Communities Fund. Training events for volunteers in partnership with the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust were held during the period and work has commenced to establish the surveys on the ground. The topic of reptiles was covered during a staff Discovery Day to assist understanding of this type of work.

We continue to be a key partner and co-host of the local catchment partnership. This is facilitating work to achieve good ecological status for the rivers and streams in the New Forest catchment. During the period we hosted a meeting with regional Environment Agency Manager Mike O’Neil which provided useful and positive feedback. Our support for the catchment partnership has resulted in over £22,000 being awarded to the catchment for this year from the Agency. The Partnership has also developed a project ‘Living Waters’ to the Our Past, Our Future Heritage Lottery Fund bid.

We have contributed to the Environment Agency’s final consultation on the South East River Basin Management Plan which is the statutory plan for delivering the Water Framework Directive objectives for the area and plans for investment around local priorities.

In June we helped to communicate the importance of the Forest and the work of the Authority to a conference visit by over 80 Danish water experts. They were particularly interested in visiting the area due to its importance for the environment, protected landscape status and success in restoring wetlands.

We provided input to media communications on the valuable research work being undertaken by local experts and volunteers to understand the ecology of woodcock within the New Forest. We have continued to provide an ecological advice service to New Forest District Council and during the period have received over 40 requests for input to planning cases. We are in the process of renewing our Service Level Agreement with the Council. Input to National Park Authority planning cases continued, including consultation meetings with National Grid to assess the wildlife impact of possibly undergrounding of cables in the area.

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1.2 Achieve excellence in development and planning

Development Control

In this first quarter, the team received some 209 planning applications, with 173 decisions already issued since 1 April. The approval rate for the year stands at 89%, and the vast majority of applications continue to be determined within the target timescales. Thirteen appeals were determined in this period and it has been encouraging to see that in most cases (77%) the appeals have been dismissed, with the Planning Inspectorate offering strong support for our local planning policies.

The number of pre-application enquiries continues to be high, especially with regard to more significant proposals, reflecting a growing confidence in the property and development sector.

We held our Annual Planning Agents’ meeting on 22 June, attended by some 35 professional agents and architects. Topics covered included the local plan review, recent changes to the General Permitted Development Order and the new Building Design Award. The feedback on the night was generally very positive, particularly for our pre-application service, which is highly valued by agents and local architects.

Enforcement and Trees

During the first quarter of this financial year the Enforcement and Trees team has served 5 Enforcement Notices directed against the most harmful breaches of planning control. We have concluded a further 50 investigations into potential breaches and negotiated the resolution of 18 breaches of planning control. We have also secured dates before a High Court Judge to progress the two cases where we are seeking an injunction to resolve long standing planning breaches.

In respect of trees, we have served 11 Tree Preservation Orders to protect trees that were under threat and which were important to retain owing to the contribution to the amenity of their respective areas. A further 281 Tree Work Applications were received as well as an appeal which was dismissed for the reduction of a protected Oak tree. The Inspector stated that the proposed works would remove a considerable amount of foliage which would have a visually disfiguring effect on the tree and this would be apparent from wider public views. The proposed works would therefore be harmful to the significant contribution the tree makes to the visual amenity of the area and contrary to the statutory purposes of the National Park.

We have also been updating Members and Parish Councils about our ‘Family Trees’ event at the last round of Quadrant Meetings. The event will enable local residents to plant a tree to celebrate the birth of a child or other life events. We have now secured a planting site thanks to assistance from Sway Parish Council and will shortly be publicising the event with a view to taking advantage of the planting season towards the end of this year.

Policy

The final six week public consultation on the revisions to the National Park Management Plan Update for 2015-2020 ran until mid-June. As with the initial ‘Call for Views’ consultation held late in 2014, this final consultation included updates at the New Forest Consultative Panel and the latest round of Parish Quadrant meetings, as well as meetings with a range of stakeholders and bodies such as the New Forest Access Forum. Comments were received from 34 different individuals and organisations during this final consultation and these have

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now all been fully considered. The final version of the New Forest National Park Management Plan 2015-2020 is the subject of a separate agenda item and paper.

The Policy team has scoped out the review of our local planning policies which will follow on from the adoption of the revised Management Plan. The current Core Strategy document was adopted in December 2010 and significant changes have occurred in the intervening years to the planning system, including new permitted development rights and changes in national policy relating to housing land supply and affordable housing. The review of the local planning policies will ensure we continue to have a robust planning policy framework in place to support the delivery of the two statutory Park purposes and related duty. Members of our Planning Development Control Committee endorsed an initial consultation paper setting out the planning issues facing the New Forest and this will be the subject of public consultation over the next few months.

Public consultation is also underway on two Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs) relating to: (i) oil and gas development (including fracking) and (ii) the safeguarding of minerals and waste sites. Both of the draft documents have been prepared by the partnership of mineral and waste planning authorities in Hampshire – namely ourselves, Hampshire County Council, and Portsmouth and Southampton City Councils – and aim to supplement the policies contained within the adopted Hampshire Minerals and Waste Plan (September 2013). The final versions of the two documents will be presented for adoption to the full Authority meeting around the turn of the year.

1.3 Conserving strong local distinctiveness

Design advice and guidance

In April 2015 the Service Level Agreement (SLA) between us and New Forest District Council relating to building design and conservation came into effect. We host the service which is made up of three building design and conservation officers who offer specialist advice across the National Park and District Council administrative areas on the built environment of the New Forest.

Following endorsement at the March Planning Development Control Committee meeting – and further awareness-raising at the recent round of Parish Quadrant meetings and the annual planning agent’s meeting in June - our Building Design Awards scheme was launched in early July. The scheme aims to recognise the important contribution good design makes to enhancing the Forest’s rich built heritage and nominations are open until the end of October 2015.

Conservation Area Action Plan for the Western Escarpment Conservation Area

The Western Escarpment Conservation Area Steering Group met in April and early July to discuss its work on verge damage in the Conservation Area and the potential options that could be piloted to address the issues. The Steering Group also met with the Deputy Surveyor of the New Forest in April to outline the verge damage mapping they have undertaken and the project was positively received by the Forestry Commission which feels it could potentially be extended to other parts of the New Forest. The Steering Group is currently identifying a range of sites within the Conservation Area where different solutions could be trialled and is working with other statutory bodies on an information leaflet setting out the importance of the Forest’s verges for grazing, ecology and landscape character.

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New Forest Remembers World War II

Legacy work for the WWII project continues. Members of the oral history team have now finished transcribing interviews and have started to check through them for accuracy. A further two contributors have come forward wishing to be interviewed for the project, with one being interviewed in May and the other booked in for early August. The interactive portal (www.newforestww2.org) continues to be very popular, as more content continues to be uploaded from our ‘off-line’ archive and contributions by the general public. The end of July is the updated HLF deadline for submission of the project final report, evaluation and final payment claim so all efforts are being made to meet this timeframe.

New Forest Remembers World War I

The first stage of the modifications to the interactive portal (to accommodate WWI content) has now been completed. The site was re-launched in late April with some of the local groups registering their details. They are now working on their material for upload to the site. The second stage of modifications to the portal are now under way. This includes the return of the WWII archaeology overlay and Park boundary and the addition of WWII War Diaries and WWI archaeology overlays. Changes in the mapping used include the return of the OS Base Mapping and adding 2013 aerial photography; all other mapping will be removed. It is hoped that these changes will go live by late July.

The project officer and volunteers attended the very successful East Boldre WWI airfield event recently - both the event and our display being well-received. A number of potential new contributors of documentary material came to light via the event and they are being followed up. Plans are now being developed for a WWI temporary exhibition (possibly at the New Forest Centre) in early 2016 and a subsequent traveling display for the rest of the year. All groups will be invited to contribute material for a panel and at the end of the display period the panel will be given to the group for their use.

Festival of Archaeology 2015

As part of the Festival of Archaeology 2015, a New Forest Heritage Weekend is taking place at Lepe Country Park on 18 and 19 July from 10.30am to 4pm. Activities include: piloting a mini underwater vehicle, handling historical artefacts, searching and recording sites being lost to the sea, discovering the crucial role Lepe played during WWII, and delving into the high-tech approaches used to uncover the Forest’s past.

1.4 Encouraging environmentally sustainable land management

New Forest Higher Level Stewardship Scheme LIDAR and archaeological survey

Since April the project has been working on data cleaning and management ready for deposition with Hampshire Archaeology and Historic Buildings Records (AHBR). During July, data for 10 different locations, including nearly 400 archaeological features, will be deposited. As well as this, data gathered from 12 WWII sites across the open Crown land by the New Forest Remembers WWII project will also be deposited, involving more than 300 archaeological features.

Work continues towards a temporary exhibition in September with the launch of the new HLS Lidar video, which received over 30,000 views on YouTube during its first week on the internet.

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2 Enjoy

2.1 Enabling high quality experiences of the National Park

Access Improvements

The Small Grants Scheme Panel met on 13 May. There was one application from the New Forest area from Fordingbridge Town Council who wish to reprint their popular ‘Exploring Fordingbridge’ guided walk leaflet. The panel postponed its decision pending further information. We are in discussions with Hampshire County Council about continuing to fund a proportion of their Stiles to Gates Scheme (SGS). The partnership started over five years ago and has met with real success. Approximately 50 gates have been installed by the partnership as well as a further 50-60 installed by town and parish councils either directly or via the SGS.

New Forest Access Forum

The Forum met on 1 June and received updates on Hampshire County Council’s Countryside Access Plan review, the Deregulation Act 2015, the Hampshire Cycling Strategy, the draft National Park Management Plan and a campaign to encourage more considerate use of roads and routes within the park by all users. Two new members were appointed to the Forum following the recent membership recruitment process. Rosemary Mitchell will represent ‘health’ and Peter Scott will represent ‘coastal access’.

Volunteering

Volunteering has continued with the New Forest Remembers WWII project, Higher Level Stewardship scheme heritage mapping, Community Wildlife Plans project, Date with Nature and Inclusive Cycling.

The Our Past, Our Future scheme contains substantial volunteering activity and preparation for the expected start in the Autumn has continued.

Outreach - Health and wellbeing

We organised a workshop entitled ‘Healthy Forest, Healthy People: a joint agenda?’. This was attended by over 30 people from the health sector and the environment and land management sector. We discussed the potential for natural and cultural heritage and greenspace to address local health and wellbeing needs. The workshop heard from some inspirational speakers including Dr William Bird of Intelligent Health, and then worked on common goals and objectives for this area of work. This is currently being written up and will help inform local health and wellbeing work.

Mosaic Youth

More than 50 Mosaic England young champions attended the annual weekend get-together at the end of March at Grinton Lodge youth hostel in the Yorkshire Dales. New Forest Project Officer Sarah Young and Lead Ranger Gillie Molland attended with eight New Forest Young Champions. They went caving, mountain biking, orienteering, visited local farms and took turns at archery during their stay. They were joined by Peter Charlesworth, Chairman of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, and Julie Martin, YDNPA member, on Saturday and took part in WWF's Earth Hour that evening. The Champions gained a lot from the weekend with ‘talking to new people’, ‘having new experiences’ and ‘learning more about another National Park’ being a common response to what they enjoyed most.

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Now in its final year, work is continuing to ensure the maximum number of young people engage and benefit from the project. A number of events are being planned to reach out to a large number of local young people and encourage them to learn more about the New Forest National Park and what it has to offer.

2.2 Improving understanding of the special qualities

Interpretation projects

We have launched our pack of 11 self-guided walks focussing on rights of way and access from villages and public transport. These are proving popular and are selling well from information points and other locations.

Date with Nature at the Reptile Centre near Lyndhurst has seen over 10,000 people attending between April and the end of June.

Our new mobile unit is now up and running and will help Rangers and others interpret the special qualities of the New Forest. It has three distinct interpretation display ‘modes’ – general information, family cycling and ground nesting birds. The smaller mobile unit is still operational and will be used in tandem with the larger unit over the summer.

Public events

We have been preparing for the New Forest Show in July including planning our stand and activities. We will be showcasing what makes the New Forest special and asking people to ‘join the adventure’ in helping to keep it that way. Topics include special buildings, wildlife, habitats, archaeology and rural ways of life.

The event season is now well underway with a busy Easter, May Bank Holidays and half term week.

We ran a very successful Wild Play Day on the Beach at Hurst Spit with over 800 people coming along to discover fun ways to explore, play and get creative in the outdoors with minimal materials and resources. This was a joint event run in partnership with Hampshire County Council and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust.

Roydon Wood and Local Produce Fair again attracted a large number of people, run by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust and supported by us.

Now in its fourth year, building on the legacy of the Olympics and Paralympics, Lepe into Action attracted over 400 people trying a range of activities accessible to all including children and young people with disabilities. Inclusive Cycling was as popular as ever with our Inclusive Cycling Officer promoting the fleet of adapted bikes available for hire and use.

Rangers

We are pleased to welcome Dawn Rayment, our People and Wildlife Ranger. She will be working with New Forest District Council, Natural England and Hampshire County Council Countryside Service Access Team in the delivery of this post. It forms a group of projects designed to mitigate the recreational impacts arising from new housing development within the New Forest District (outside the National Park) on the New Forest and the Solent/Southampton Water European sites. The mitigation strategy seeks to direct recreational

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activities, such as dog-walking, to less sensitive sites, and to minimise the impact of visits that are made to designated sites.

We also extend our welcome to Kathy Troke-Thomas and Vicky Inglis who are joining us as Assistant Seasonal Rangers, working predominately on the four main campsites of Hollands Wood, Roundhill, Ashurst and Holmsley as well as in the wider National Park to communicate key ‘caring for the New Forest’ messages related to issues such as animal safety, litter, wildlife disturbance, campfires and BBQs. Funding has been provided by Camping in the Forest and the Forestry Commission.

Rangers spoke with 4,815 contacts from April - June, attending 27 events with the mobile information unit.

This period has been a key time for rangers to be out promoting messages around ground nesting birds, raising awareness of their presence and potential disturbance to them from Forest users. Five awareness sessions have been run in conjunction with the Forestry Commission to promote ground nesting bird messages and encourage responsible dog walking at popular key sites.

With the holiday season approaching the team has been out distributing ‘Look but don’t touch’ leaflets and posters to businesses and attractions to try to reduce the number of incidents and accidents from visitors petting and feeding the ponies.

Communications

Judging for the second CLA/National Park Authority Awards has taken place. There are four categories celebrating people who champion the New Forest and the awards will be presented at the New Forest Show.

We hosted the National Parks UK AGM and the National Parks England board meeting and AGM, with Chairs and Chief Execs of our counterparts across the UK. As well as their meetings, they were taken on a tour of the New Forest to see some of our projects in action and to discuss issues and challenges common to all national parks.

We produced and promoted a video about mapping archaeology using Lidar technology which in its first week received over 30,500 views on our YouTube channel.

A new local information point was launched at the Melt ice cream parlour in Brockenhurst, to provide information and guidance to visitors. We also publicised the Building Design Awards scheme; a New Forest heritage weekend; the Management Plan consultation; a litter assembly photocall; a pond restoration project at Lover; animal accident awareness; our joint Open Art competition with the New Forest Centre; three new bus services and the start of the New Forest Tour season; a health and wellbeing conference; and a series of walks leaflets focussed on the landscape and heritage of the Forest.

We helped promote a new publication by National Parks England and the Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty entitled ‘So much more than the view…’ which shows that England’s finest landscapes contribute more than £20bn each year to our economy – similar to that of Birmingham.

More than 800 people took part in fun activities such as seashore scavenging, crabbing and pebble tower building at a Wild Play Day at the Beach at Hurst Spit near Milford-on-Sea in

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April. Our feedback forms showed that many had found out about the event through our Facebook page, which now has over 10,800 followers.

Educational campaigns We continue to work across the Authority and jointly with other organisations to incorporate various educational messages within a wide range of programmes of work. This includes, for example, the Date with Nature event that is in full swing at the Reptile Centre (ground nesting birds), the New Forest Tour (animal accidents), our stand at the forthcoming New Forest Show (ground nesting birds), a new video that is being developed for the New Forest Centre museum (various) and bike navigation devices to be provided via bike hire businesses (stay on permitted routes).

Our ground nesting birds work will be greatly helped now that the new People and Wildlife Ranger has arrived (funded through the SLA with New Forest District Council).

The Lymington Times featured a map of all the animal accidents that were recorded in 2014 – highlighting the high risk routes where drivers need to take special care. There is also now a plan to refresh the warning signage on the B roads across the north of the Forest, including several ‘changing signs’ of the kind trialed on the B3054 in recent years. These are designed to attract the attention of local drivers for whom static signs have less impact after a while.

Most recent cycle events have been compliant with the Cycle Event Organisers’ Charter, the Wiggle Spring Sportive being the exception (there were about twice as many participants as the Charter recommends and cyclists were not identifiable from the rear). During this event, most cyclists cycled considerately and most motorists coped well with the inevitable inconvenience. However, some very poor cycling and some very dangerous driving was observed. The Safety Advisory Group (SAG) is shortly due to have a debrief with the event organiser, and officers will input to this in the hope that the autumn event will be compliant.

2.3 Agreeing positive recreation management

Forums

The Dogs Forum met recently and discussed initial results from a questionnaire sent out to NFDOG members. The questions asked dog walkers what they expect of commercial dog walkers in respect of things like price, control over dogs while being walked and whether they pick up after the dogs. The same questions will be asked by Rangers at events during the summer so that we have good evidence on which to base a subsequent approach to commercial dog walkers about them following the Dog Walking Code.

The Recreation Management Strategy (RMS) Steering Group is developing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to summarise the desirable outcomes, guiding principles and criteria that underpin the way in which statutory organisations will work together to improve the management of recreation across the New Forest. The RMS Advisory Group was largely positive about the MoU and both Groups are keen to progress to the next stage in which specific proposals are developed.

The Animal Accident Reduction Group met and discussed the wide range of initiatives being employed to reduce the frequency and severity of accidents, and ways in which we can assess which work best. The Group continues to provide a useful forum through which this multifaceted issue can be addressed jointly.

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Community/Practical recreation projects

Rangers continue to support the Community Wildlife Plans Project in awareness days and practical conservation tasks, especially this period with Himalayan Balsam pulling along the Blackwater in the north of the Forest.

Rangers have also assisted Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust’s Source to Sea project by attending a number of Himalayan Balsam pulling sessions across the National Park.

2.4 Leading on education about the New Forest

Educational work

The highlight of this busy school summer term was the primary school teachers’ conference, hosted by the National Park Authority education team. Delegates from nine local primary schools attended workshops delivered by the team and teachers from Wiltshire, Dorset and Hampshire. The conference enabled teachers to share best practice in using the Forest as an inspirational learning resource for children, leaving them with a lasting love for its landscape and heritage. The Educators’ Forum attended in the afternoon and took part in an enjoyable ‘speed dating’ session with the teachers to promote education in the Forest.

Groups from two schools have visited Ballard Meadow and Barton Common to begin informal biodiversity survey work on behalf of Town Council.

Since the beginning of May, 1,238 students aged between six and 16 years from 21 education establishments have received education sessions from the team, on themes ranging from ‘Coast, Past, Present and Future’, to ‘The Forest at Night’ and ‘Endangered Species of the Forest’.

Non-curriculum groups

Rangers led a guided walk for guests at the Montagu Arms exploring the history, culture and conservation of the New Forest followed by a New Forest Marque lunch provided for participants in their restaurant.

Rangers visited eight preschools talking to 253 children.

Fifteen young adults from Totton College Special Educational Needs group visited Lepe Country Park to undertake a litter pick and learn more about marine conservation and what they can do to help protect our coasts.

Seventy pupils from France staying at Burley Youth Hostel enjoyed an evening walk with a ranger listening for bats with bat detectors and learning about the New Forest at night.

Talks have been given to Blackfield Gardening Club and Redlynch and Wellow Parish Councils.

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3 Prosper 3.1 Supporting a distinctive local economy

New Forest Marque

We continue to support the Directors of New Forest Produce Limited in developing the New Forest Marque and increasing the number of businesses represented by the Marque network. The 2015 Marque Directory was published in April and remains the key means of promoting the businesses. Sadly, having been unable to secure the grants needed to continue funding the officer posts, the contracts for both Sarah Hunt and Jenna Bessant have ended. The hard work, effort and passion for the Marque that both Sarah and Jenna displayed for many years will be sorely missed. We continue to provide administrative support with the website and social media and are working with the Directors to develop a business plan for continued development of the Marque.

3.2 Improving affordable housing provision

We have been working with communities in Brockenhurst, Copythorne, Sway, and Ellingham, Harbridge and Ibsley to take forward options for new affordable housing development in these areas. The Queen’s Speech in May 2015 included Government proposals for a new Housing Bill which would enable Housing Association tenants to buy their properties at a discounted rate under an extended ‘Right to Buy’ scheme. The implications of this proposal on the affordable housing stock in the New Forest and the future for rural exceptions sites are being considered.

The proposed development for two new affordable homes at Bransgore is progressing well. A local Quantity Surveyor has now been appointed to help in the tendering of the construction work. Once a preferred building contractor has been chosen, a further report will be presented to the Resources, Performance and Audit Committee in the Autumn for final approval before the contract is let.

3.3 Promoting sustainable transport

Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) programme

The first Two National Parks LSTF programme (2012-15) is now complete and signed off by Department for Transport. This £3.8million programme led by Hampshire County Council in partnership with ourselves and the South Downs NPA, with five other highway authorities has been developing initiatives to reduce the impact of visitor traffic on the national parks through the promotion of sustainable transport. In the end, we were the partner who benefitted the most from the programme financially with over £1million being spent directly by us and around another £600,000 being spent by Hampshire County Council and Wiltshire Council. We are now delivering the one year extension to this programme which is revenue only.

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This year’s programme has a strong focus on supporting passenger transport, especially local bus services. We’re continuing to work closely with the bus operator and Hampshire County Council to improve the financial sustainability of services by encouraging leisure use, which in turn will help to maintain the service in the future for local journeys. The services are:

. The New Forest Tour returned on the 27 June. There have been only very minor changes to the route this year, but we are expecting growth in passenger numbers. . Forest Bus (formerly the 6). Rebranding of the service between Southampton and Lymington, via Lyndhurst and Brockenhurst, started on the 24 May and will run until the 31 October. The service now has an enhanced Sunday service which matches the rest of the week’s timetable. . Forest Bus Baby - Moors Valley Country Park to Hythe, via Ringwood, Burley, Brockenhurst and Beaulieu. Weekends and bank holidays only. 24 May to 31 October. This new service is already proving popular with over 1500 passengers in the first four weekends.

. Beach Bus – seasonal service between Lymington and Hythe via Lepe County Park and Bucklers Hard. Operating between 25 July and 31 August.

. Paultons Park – we’ve been working with Paultons Park and local operators and GoSouthCoast to increase access to the Park via local bus services. The X24 service links some of the neighbourhood areas of Southampton to the Park, and the existing X7 service links Southampton with Salisbury. The popular nature of this attraction gives us confidence that these services will be financially sustainable within a year.

Our Travel Concierge service at Brockenhurst station returned on 27 June to assist visitors to plan their days out in the Forest car-free. This year the travel ambassadors will also be engaging with visitors to local campsites where they will be encouraging guests to leave their cars on site and explore the Forest by New Forest Tour and other sustainable forms of transport.

With our support, Lymington – Brockenhurst Community Rail Partnership has organised a series of eight special events at Brockenhurst station including entertainment from vintage singers The Bunker Girls and a mobile vintage tea rooms along with music by Lymington Town Band playing on platform four.

We have recently developed a partnership with Garmin (the global manufacturer of satellite navigation devices) and local cycle hire operators to provide cycling navigation devices to cycle hire customers to help them easily navigate around the Forest and stay on the permitted cycling network. We are also developing a new campaign to encourage mutual respect and responsible use of the roads and track network by all users with a working title ‘Give each other breathing space’.

We are working with the New Forest Show to look at ways to further reduce the impact of traffic from the event. This includes heavy promotion of alternative ways to get to the show before visitors leave home.

The New Forest inclusive cycling project (now operating under the moniker PEDALL) has engaged with 450 people from a diverse section of society since the beginning of April. A not- for-profit organisation is being established over the coming months and trustees are currently being sought to drive this project further in the future. Regular introductory and led-ride

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sessions are scheduled throughout 2015 as well as targeted outreach with various groups including schools, hospices, disability groups and older people’s organisations.

New Forest Family Cycling Experiences programme (NFFCE)

Projects are proceeding as planned for completion by the end of September 2015. Work commenced on the Ashurst to Lyndhurst cycle route upgrade adjacent to the A35 and the new cycle route at Marchwood. These are both very visible improvements funded by this programme. The grants scheme is now closed and all funding has been allocated.

3.4 Encouraging sustainable living

Sustainable Communities Fund

As part of the extension to the Two National Parks LSTF programme, we have £50,000 in grant funds available this year for revenue projects that enable visitors and residents to travel car-free in the New Forest and reduce the impact of traffic on the National Park. So far £13,800 has been approved to three projects bringing in match funds of £58,352.

Projects approved recently include support for the Big Bike Bash Festival (at Avon Tyrell Outdoor Activity Centre), run by local volunteers, to increase promotion of the event, develop a day ticket option, and provide a free shuttle service between the local railway station and the site. As part of the New Forest Marathon, ORA Events will also provide bike racking facilities and a free shuttle service between Brockenhurst Station and the New Forest Showground to make it easier for those attending the event to travel to and from the start point without using their cars.

4 Aiming for Excellence

4.1 Seeking to provide the highest quality of service

Processing of planning applications

In the past 12 months 8,700 planning application files have been back-scanned by the Systems Support Team, taking the total since the project started to in excess of 20,000. The application forms, decisions and associated drawings are now available to view via the website.

Meetings and Authority membership

The Corporate Services team continues to provide a range of support to Members and teams across the corporate structure which, for the period from 26 March to date, includes support to the Authority and committee meetings, Members’ days and briefings (NPA’s approach to walking and passenger transport in the National Park, Management Plan for the New Forest and the Business Plan), task and finish group meetings, Executive Board, All Staff team meetings and Managers Forum. There have been some changes in the membership of the Authority since the elections in May with Gordon Bailey replacing Ian Hibberd (Test Valley Borough Council), Richard Frampton for Maureen Holding (New Forest District Council) and two new Secretary of State (Parish) Members - Harry Oram (South West Quadrant) and George Bisson (South East Quadrant).

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Audit of accounts

The Finance team is currently working closely with our external auditors on the final accounts which will be submitted to the Resources, Audit and Performance Committee and then the Authority meeting in September.

Communication with members

The first new-style ‘Members’ Bulletin’ went out early in April. The new bi-weekly bulletin is designed to be much more accessible, with annexes such as press releases opened via links rather than as attachments. The idea is for members to get an instant view of what may be relevant to them in the two weeks ahead, and then delve deeper through links as necessary.

Review of the Records Management system

The server which supports the Authority’s records management system is being de-supported by Microsoft in mid-July and plans are being finalised to move to a new server. This has also proved an opportunity to refine and streamline the file structure, improve efficiency and storage space and remove duplication and redundant files and folders.

4.2 Working closely with others in championing the Forest

The Authority continues to respond to and arrange requests for public speaking by local organisations on a range of topics; these presentations are made by officers and members. Support for the parish quadrant meetings is ongoing as is support to external partners such as the New Forest Marque and New Forest Trust. Significant support is also provided to the Access Forum and Consultative Panel – since the last meeting of the Authority, the Panel considered presentations and reports on the Countryside Stewardship Scheme for the New Forest, deployment of Forestry Commission resources, review of the NPA Local Plan and the Building Design Awards.

4.3 Achieving an efficient and high performing organisation

Corporate Insurance

The Authority has gone through a full tender process to renew its corporate insurance which has resulted in securing comprehensive cover for the Authority’s expanding insurance needs at a competitive premium.

Local Government Ombudsman Annual Statistics.

Annual statistics have been received from the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) for the year ending 31 March 2015. The LGO made 13 decisions following complaints and enquiries received about the New Forest National Park Authority. The majority (70%) related to Development Control including trees and enforcement. As can be seen from the table below only two warranted a detailed investigation and in both cases the LGO did not uphold the complaint; this compares very favourably with the national figure of 46% of all complaints investigated being upheld by the LGO. We maintain a good record of complaint handling both internally and with the LGO and these latest statistics reflect similar figures since the establishment of the Authority.

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Detailed investigation carried out Upheld Nil Not upheld 2 Not investigated Closed after initial enquiries 5 Invalid/incomplete 1 Referred back for local resolution 5

Human Resources

. As at 1 July 2015 there are 66 members of staff or 57.97 full-time equivalents (excluding externally funded posts), of whom 21 are part-time and five are on a fixed-term contract.

. In the last three months we said goodbye to Nat Taplin (Sustainable Transport Officer), Jo Holmes (GIS Support Administrator), Sarah Hunt (New Forest Marque Manager), Jenna Bessant (New Forest Marque Project Officer), Shona Marsh (Transport and Tourism Officer) and Ann Caldwell (Senior Administration Officer). We thank them for their valuable contribution to the work of the Authority and wish them well in their future ventures.

. Welcome to: . Lynette Fawkes – Conservation Officer

. We also welcome the following staff who join the Transport and Tourism team in fixed-term roles funded by the LSTF: . Aynsley Clinton – New Forest Tour Co-ordinator . Jolyon Whaymand – Inclusive Cycling Officer . Mike Wescombe – Transport Officer . Daniel Pape, Alex Proudlock, Diana Collett (Seasonal Sustainable Travel Ambassadors)

. And we welcome three new externally funded staff to the Ranger team: . Dawn Rayment – People and Wildlife Ranger (until March 2018) . Kathy Troke-Thomas and Vicky Inglis (Seasonal Assistant Rangers)

. Recruitment currently underway for: . Administration Assistant (Trees)

ICT Services Officers have been working towards decommissioning four Windows 2003 Servers. Work on the server which supports the corporate file structure is near completion with 85% of files being transferred to a new server by the end of June, with the remainder to follow early July allowing the old server to be decommissioned by mid-July. Work to move tree works applications and tree preservation order documents to the new server is planned for 6 July with all planning documents being switched over by 13 July. Once moved, the system used to view planning documents on the web will change to Idox Public Access as the old system has been de- supported. This work will allow the two old servers housing these documents to also be decommissioned by mid-July. The new shared GIS service, hosted by New Forest District Council, is now up and running and performing well.

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5 Members 5.1 Some members were involved in some or all of the following meetings and events

. Planning Development Control Committee, 21 April . Planning Development Control Committee, 19 May . Consultative Panel, 28 May . Resources, Audit and Performance Committee, 1 June . Planning Development Control Committee, 16 June . Management Plan Briefing, 25 June . Consultative Panel, 2 July . New Forest Tour Members Day, 9 July

5.2 Forthcoming activities include:

. Planning Development Control Committee, 21 July . New Forest Show, 28 – 30 July . Planning Development Control Committee, 18 July . Wetland Restoration Members Briefing, 23 July . Consultative Panel, 3 September . Planning Tour, 10 September . Planning Development Control Committee, 15 September

5.3 Chief Executive’s engagements

. Business South Board Meeting, 15 April . New Forest Association AGM, 18 May . Meeting with Chief Executive of Forest Enterprise, 21 April . Higher Level Stewardship Board and AGM, 21 April . Health and Wellbeing Workshop, 28 April . New Forest Business Partnership meeting, 29 April . RSPB Council Dinner, 9 May . E-NPOG meeting, 13 May . J-NPOG meeting, 13 May . Verderers Tour of Stock, 15 May . Fundraising event for Burrard Neale Monument, 16 May . Opening of Dementia Awareness Week, Milford on Sea, 17 May . Greater London National Park City Advisory Board and Steering Group, 20 May . HIOW Chief Exec’s meeting, 22 May . Visit by Director of Conservation, National Trust, 28 May . Consultative Panel, 28 May.

6 Recommendation To note the report.

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