Parking charges planned for beauty spots

Free parking in some parts of a national park could end next year as plans for charges are being made.

Forestry England said the car parks in the New Forest, Hampshire, had become increasingly expensive to maintain in the last few years.

It said it only received 20% of its core funding from the government and needed to use car parks to help generate much-needed income.

The area is popular with dog walkers and some argue they should be offered discounts.

Totton South Councillor, David Harrison, said Forestry England needed to raise between £1.5m and £2m a year.

"They are under-resourced by government - they are being pressed to generate income and car parking is one of the obvious ways of doing that," he said.

Even though he is against the proposals, he said it had been in the works for some time.

"There is no such thing as a free car park, we know that," he continued.

"Forestry England have managed to generate smaller amounts of income by franchising things like ice cream vans and coffee vans in the New Forest car parks.

"Their plan is to introduce parking charges by the Autumn of next year, 2026."

It is not clear what the money will be spent on but Mr Harrison believes it will pay for fixing issues like potholes.

Dog walkers often use the Deerleap, Whitefield Moor and Longslade Bottom car parks.

Mr Harrison believes there is an argument they should get a discount card.

Local resident Ken Davis said people who lived near the national park were seeing their open space "swallowed up" by development, and as a result were even more reliant on the park itself.

"Charging New Forest District Council tax payers for car parking would be yet another burden on residents living within NFDC area but outside of the National Park boundary," he said.

He said residents should be exempt from the parking charge.

In a statement, Forestry England said: "With less than 20% of our core funding coming from government Forestry England needs to raise the majority of funds for car parks, trails and all of the work we do, ourselves.

"A sustainable approach to funding is needed if we are to going to be able to continue to do this vital work and provide these facilities."

It has not yet commented on the idea of a discount card.

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