Campsites threat to National Park

New Forest campsites are facing modernisation following a £35m capital investment programme at holiday sites on Forestry Commission land.

The move follows the transfer of the Forestry Commission's 24 Forest Holidays cabin, camping and caravanning sites across the country to a new public-private partnership between the Commission and The Camping and Caravanning Club.

The new partnership, which will still be known as Forest Holidays, is expected to invest £40m over the next five years in upgrading facilities and building a new cabin site on Commission land.

But the upgrade has already prompted fears that the Forestry Commission's mandate of "conservation of the natural and cultural heritage as the principal objective of management" will be abandoned.

Tory MP Desmond Swayne raised the debate in the House of Commons last week, asking ministers to deny rumours that the mandate "will become a dead letter".

Mr Swayne, who represents New Forest West, explained that campsites already filled 357 acres of the Forest, not including the areas around the campsites which were "inevitably affected and disrupted by their existence".

The MP cited a press release from Forest Holidays, launched in May, which boasted that it opened the door for "even more camping and cabin sites on Forestry Commission land".

Speaking in the Commons, he said: "This has been a long-running sore a battle between the Forestry Commission, which obviously wants to increase the services and the pitches available in those campsites in order to generate more revenue, and the Verderers of the New Forest, who represent the Commoners and the rights of grazing."

Verderers had already voiced their opposition to additional facilities at the Hollands Wood and Roundhill campsites.

Mr Swayne said he feared massive development projects leading to "pleasure dome" type holiday centres.

"It means more pitches, with electric hook-ups. Does it mean more roads and paths? Does it mean, for example, security lighting, entertainment opportunities, shops, playgrounds, perhaps a swimming pool, perhaps even a swimmers' sub-tropical paradise?

"Remember that we speak of the New Forest, a world heritage site, our smallest national park, where the campsites are never far from the most sensitive parts of the Forest core."

Mr Swayne asked the government to "reaffirm" the mandate, under which the Forestry Commission operates.

Ben Bradshaw, a minister at the department for environment, food and rural affairs, dismissed reports that the mandate was being abandoned.

He said he had been assured by his officials that the character of the campsites would be "unaffected" by the Forest Holidays venture.

A spokesman for the Forestry Commission said that Forest Holidays planned to build a new cabin site "at a location yet to be decided" and would also study the potential for opening new camping and caravan sites on Forestry Commission land.

'Manage activities'

Steve Trotter, director of conservation and enhancement of the New Forest National Park Authority, said: "It is important for the Forestry Commission to manage all activities on the Crown Estate carefully to ensure that they are in keeping with the New Forest's special qualities.

"Conservation of the landscape and its wildlife is vital for the National Park but it is also important for the health and well being of the nation and the local economy and that the needs of our visitors are catered for properly in a balanced way.

"Camping is an excellent way to enjoy the New Forest in a sensible and sustainable manner if it is done appropriately and people are much more likely to care about the place if they can enjoy and understand it at first hand.

"If the Forestry Commission do intend to propose any developments on their campsites they will have to submit planning permission to the National Park Authority as the local planning authority and convince Members that they have found this balance."