ℹ️ The NFCDA Committee have responded to the New Forest National Park consultation on their emerging Partnership Plan.

We hope that the feedback we have provided is considered, and reflected in the next iteration ✅

Read our response here   👉https://www.realnewforest.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/NFCDAresponsetoPPFinal.pdf

Great to see the new #keepyourdistance signs up and in action 🙂 

You asked… so we listened!

This has been fantastic a joint initiative, with funding from the Verderers and Forestry England, to help get this important messages across to visitors in the New Forest. There are currently 16 signs being trialed at the moment with potential to purchase another 16 if they prove successful.

Thank you to all involved in making this happen!

#keepyourdistance,#donottouch,#donotfeed,#newforestcode, #protectandpromotecommoning, #realnewforest

Final NF BPS Consultation Jan21

Background

Up until 2005 subsidies were related to agricultural production, in the case of cattle this was paid through Suckler Cow Premium and Beef Special Premium for example, as a headage payment, and was not related to the land of the New Forest. When the Single Payment Scheme was introduced the aim was to de couple payments from production and in the case of the New Forest future payments were to be based on a reference period and related to the number of marking fees paid by a claimant in the 12 months prior to March 2005. From this an allocation of land area was awarded to commoners and payments changed from being based on historic production to a flat rate area payment over eight years. This was the basis for payments to commoners till 2015 when SPS was superseded by the Basic Payment Scheme.

During 2014 and early 2015 we held a series of meetings with Defra and RPA representatives to discuss how BPS would work in the New Forest. We looked at a number of options including establishing a new, more recent reference period. These options were rejected by Defra because they would not reflect contemporary use of the common grazing in future years and that this was a requirement. For that reason BPS payments to commoners have been linked to the number of marking fees paid during the previous calendar year since 2015.

As a result of a legal challenge which argues that the current system has created a headage based payment, which is not allowed, Defra are reviewing the way in which payments will be made until the planned end of BPS in 2027. The method used since 2015 has also resulted in increases to the number of marking fees paid and the number of animals depastured.

RPA Consultation

The RPA are consulting interested parties in the New Forest on the future of the Basic Payment Scheme and the way in which payments are made to commoners for the common land of the New Forest. The CDA hopes to work with the Verderers and other interested parties to form responses which are satisfactory for all. In addition to a CDA response it is also possible or individuals to make their own and they are encouraged to do so as there are important points to be considered. The RPA propose holding information sessions in whatever form the current restrictions will allow and these will be notified to us in due course.

Read the Consultation on the allocation of land on the New Forest common for the Basic Payment Scheme, November 2020.

We’ve all learnt a lot from the coronavirus lockdown. The extent to which people will voluntarily help complete strangers in a time of need has been hugely reassuring when there seems so much division. Lockdown has also been lightened by so many people sharing their experiences of the nature around them; noticing life in their streets, gardens, and outside their windows that had previously gone unseen and unappreciated. Quiet skies and roads have heightened appreciation of the dawn chorus. The ban on travel has shone a light on the real value of local green space, and literally got people out of their cars and back on their feet and bikes for daily exercise.

The lockdown, and its partial relaxation in May, has however also delivered harsh lessons for our landscape. These will require significant policy responses in the years ahead.

Firstly, for a protected landscape it is too reliant on its landlords to protect it.

It is understandable but unfortunate that the National Trust should use the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to furlough 80% of its staff. The lockdown means that the charity has lost half of its income. The risk to the charity is very real. Nevertheless, the withdrawal of staff from the New Forest does seem a disastrous false economy.

Less understandable was the decision by Forestry England, a public body, to take advantage of the Job Retention Scheme to furlough frontline staff, including New Forest keepers. It is clear that this decision was taken on financial grounds alone, despite the knowledge that their services would be essential during the lockdown. Contrast this with the actions of the District Council, redeploying staff onto the frontline at a time of need.

This appalling decision by Forestry England has, however, cast light on the worrying situation in relation to the management of the 145 square miles of Crown Land within the New Forest. It is now clear that the recent name change  to “Forestry England” was much more than a rebranding. It reflects the shifting emphasis from land management and towards brand awareness and revenue generation. The focus on income from sales has intensified dramatically in recent years, with declining financial support from government. It is a matter of grave concern that the majority of the New Forest is being placed under this commercial pressure, particularly as the prospects for income are declining. We have seen this pressure over the years, in cutting the number of keepers, increasing reluctance to maintain New Forest infrastructure, and in seeking market income from the Crown cottages instead of housing those upon whom the landscape depends. The commercial deal by which Forestry England formed Camping in the Forest LLP will produce increasing tension between revenue growth and the conservation of the protected habitats affected by the sites. This £6m-a-year Forestry England joint venture views the protection of the New Forest as a “strategic risk” and a threat to its aim of “growing pitch nights”.

The Ministers Mandate sets the terms for the Forestry Commission’s management of the Crown Lands. It very clearly states that issues of financial management must never be allowed to override the first priority of conservation of the landscape. This has so clearly been allowed to wither on the vine.

At the start of the lockdown the CDA warned Forestry England that efforts to protect the landscape, particularly from damaging car parking, would need to step up when the car parks closed. No-one could have imagined that Forestry England would furlough its frontline staff when they were most needed. The damage that has been done is real and lasting. It will cost substantial amounts to repair the grazing. On top of this, parking habits have already formed, and the need to keep 2m apart to limit virus transmission further incentivised illegal parking away from car parks. On the first weekend after the lockdown was eased, with the sun shining, reports streamed in of cars driving onto the SSSI habitats, and of barbecues, litter, out-of-control dogs,  and livestock feeding all over the New Forest. There was almost no sign of enforcement activity.

The National Park Authority also failed to step up to fill the gap. Their few rangers seem to have been kept home, creating a real vacuum of protection. Throughout the lockdown we heard other national parks sending firm messages that the landscape was “closed”. The sense of frustration from local police teams, who tried to step and cover the gaping hole of enforcement, was palpable. They could only prosecute obstruction offences, but tried hard to do what they could to protect the habitats and public safety on the open Forest.

Secondly, the scale of the challenge in the local population is clear.

For years it has been easy to blame tourists for problems in the New Forest, and to direct education efforts towards them. The lockdown revealed a terrifying level of local indifference to this incredible lowland heath

Undamaged grazed verge, Setthorns

landscape. Whilst people across Britain, living in urban flats and estates, found ways to exercise and dog walk around their homes, many in lovely leafy New Forest towns and villages produced excuses for driving into (and onto) the Forest that showed no signs at all of self-awareness or connection with the national situation. Incredibly biodiverse roadside habitats have been completely worn away by their daily parking throughout the lockdown,  badly-controlled dogs have continued to worry livestock, people have carried on feeding livestock, or getting as close as they can for their photos. All done by “locals”. Indeed, many people use “being local” as an excuse for these illegal activities. If people who choose to live in the New Forest area cannot appreciate the rare habitats, species and cultural heritage from which they benefit every day, then there can surely be little hope for educating visitors? People will copy what the local people do. What people see happening is far more powerful than any signage or other messaging.

What can be done?

In the CDA response to the Glover Review of designated landscapes we supported that call for development of National Park Ranger Service. The lockdown has shown that the New Forest cannot rely on current land managers to invest on the scale that is needed, nor to be there at the times they are most needed. Alongside the role of rangers in education about the landscape, the New Forest needs to see the return of the special constable powers held previously by New Forest keepers. Education without enforcement just allows a minority to undermine the education effort. At present the prosecution process is too expensive and time-consuming, and a mechanism for on-the-spot penalties is needed.

Going forward there needs to be a much clearer acknowledgment of the reality that Forestry England has a primary focus on revenue generation. The decline of commercial forestry on a protected landscape means that this will focus on camping activities and recreational licensing. The agency will only undertake conservation activity for which it is directly funded, as has happened through the Verderers Higher Level Stewardship Scheme. It will be vital to ensure that future environmental funding is ring-fenced for the benefit of the New Forest. The risk that it could be syphoned off into corporate projects is high.

Finally, we have all failed on education. Too many “local” people have no understanding of the global importance of the landscape on their doorstep, dependent upon the survival of its system of vocational commoning. We all need to “up our game” on communicating this, generating genuine excitement about the landscape, its species, and its culture. Thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund the CDA has developed an Education Toolkit, helping local children connect to the landscape’s commoning system. But we need to step up engagement with their parents and grandparents too, who are their role models.

After the easing of the lockdown the National Park Authority issued a poster which, for the first time, gave clear guidance on behaviour in the New Forest. This was a welcome shift of emphasis. Almost no-one would want to visit a National Park and be told off for inadvertently “breaking the rules”. It is exactly the same when any of us travels to a new place; the fear of getting something wrong is very real. Yet, for years Forestry England and the National Park Authority have shied away from sharing this vital information, in favour of solely positive messages (The most common negative message from Forestry England is when its campsite income is threatened by illegal wild camping). Clarity on the laws to protect the New Forest is a vital part of opening the landscape to a more diverse range of visitors who will appreciate it. Not knowing the rules is a deterrent to access.

These are important lessons from the 2020 lockdown. They come at a crucial time, when we and our partners in the New Forest have a chance to make the future much better than the present. The Government has committed to maintaining the same level of spending as the Common Agricultural Policy in the years immediately after leaving the European Union. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to ensure that the New Forest really is a protected landscape; in name and in practice.

Tony Hockley

Chair, New Forest Commoners Defence Association

18th May 2020

UPDATE: Following this blog posting Forestry England decided to bring its keepers and other operational staff back from the furlough funded by the government Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, and the National Park Authority decided to allow its small team of rangers to return to the work of public engagement in the New Forest.

This week the Agriculture Bill gave MPs their first taste of online voting for a major piece of legislation on 13th May. It sailed through, despite much debate over a future trade agreement with America, and very little debate on everything else. The passage of the Bill through its remaining stages marks an important point of change for environmental policy. For the New Forest what mattered most was what was not said. In particular, there was no indication that ministers would concede to calls to delay the transition to a new environmental support system of: “public money for public goods”.

Since February the CDA has been lobbying ministers to end the uncertainty and to push on with the reforms, as Britain leaves the Common Agricultural Policy. In particular the CDA has raised concern that seven years of payments will depend upon a Reference Period that ministers have yet to set. For the New Forest this creates an unhelpful incentive for anyone able to claim against the New Forest allocation of funding to pay the Verderers’ £24 marking fee for as many animals as possible, irrespective of whether they contribute to the grazing of the landscape. The more this is done, the less will be available for each animal that does maintain the grazing. Thankfully, we’ve benefitted from the backing of the Verderers and many other partner organisations, as well as the local MPs in our approaches to government. In a response to Julian Lewis MP on 11th May the farming minister Victoria Prentice gave an assurance that:

“We understand the importance of carefully deciding on this reference period and of communicating it to the industry in good time”.

She also added a note of satisfaction on the current condition of the grazed New Forest following the increase in cattle grazing, which was particularly welcome after several years of repeated flood and drought conditions. She said:

“Natural England recently recommended that the Environmental Stewardship Higher Level agreement with the Verderers should be extended by one year as the agreement was delivering its objectives and the Sites of Special Scientific Interest within the forest were being managed in a way that improved their condition. We are not aware of damage to landscape due to increased numbers of de-pastured cattle”.

We can only hope that they really mean this, even though the consultation on the future environmental scheme has been paused due to the lockdown.

The easing of the lockdown and the ongoing passage of the Bill will, hopefully, signal the resumption of progress on the transition to a better system of support for our landscape. The New Forest already has a decade of experience in delivering the country’s largest agricultural-environment scheme, the Verderers HLS. It is by no means perfect, still having to fit rules made in Brussels, but it is a valuable prototype for investment tailored to the needs of the New Forest with its rare mosaic of connected habitats; supporting high standards of commoning, investing in the restoration of our precious heathlands and wetlands, and practical work to monitor and support the multiple rare species that survive in this traditionally-grazed and managed lowland landscape. Under the European rules such schemes must be linked to the landholding, meaning that the Crown Lands of the New Forest, the National Trust and County Council commons, etc. must each have their own, different scheme.

The new system could allow such work to take place by partnership across the whole of the New Forest; one scheme for all of the New Forest and focused on outcomes. It is both exciting and frustrating to have this vision in sight, but to be so slow in taking the important first step away from the old. A declaration on the transition payments Reference Period would be a small step, but it would help us better understand the underlying health or vulnerability of cattle commoning (vital to New Forest ecology but increasingly difficult) and plan for the future.

The lockdown has shown how much more work is needed to protect this landscape, and to help people understand it better. With keepers and rangers furloughed, and other staff kept home, the protection of the New Forest fell far short of what it needs and deserves. We would hope that a future support system would help deliver these vital tasks. We and are partners will need to keep up our pressure to press on with a 2021 start, and a firm declaration of the Reference Period as a matter of urgency. We’ll need to keep knocking on doors in Westminster, speaking up for this precious but too easily forgotten landscape.

The CDA committee has decided in light of the COVID-19 pandemic to recommend to the Verderers that the number of stallions selected and turned out in 2020 is cut to just 10, the record low, for six weeks.

This has been a very difficult decision, but we can have no idea of the state of the economy in 2021, and whether the demand for foals will return to the good levels experienced in 2019. The committee is very aware that the already low number of foals sired on the Forest due to the Stallion Scheme means that many of us have not benefitted from a filly foal for several years, and they are also very difficult to find for purchase. This is a considerable concern, for the commoners concerned, for their mares, and for the Forest generally. Every one of our individual herds matters.

But it was the commoners who called for a stallion scheme around 20 years ago when up to 100 stallions grazed the Forest year round. Our intention was to boost the quality and reduce the quantity of foals. As a result of tight control the purebred New Forest Pony has become a rare breed, but the quality of foals sold at Beaulieu Road has seen many go on to achieve great things in their careers elsewhere. The scheme has been hugely successful, and we can all be proud of what has been achieved. We cannot jeopardise this hard-won reputation for quality and high welfare standards, so in such extraordinary and uncertain times we have once again taken the route that prioritises these concerns, whilst continuing to ensure that some commoners will have some foals next year.

The CDA Chair has recorded a short video explaining the decision: https://youtu.be/SmcLgRq9pPY

In 2019 the CDA realised that we could do a lot better in the way we communicate directly with the public about commoning and the New Forest. Part of this plan was to develop ideas for using a stock trailer that we could take out and about, building on the materials in the Commoning Voices exhibition as useful conversation starters.

In support of this the Shared Forest project, backed by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, has enabled us to arrange an evening of fun, professional training on public engagement. This has been set for 6-9pm on Wednesday 31st March, in Lyndhurst. Free refreshments will be provided. If you might be interested to come along, and later try out what we learn at one or two events in Spring then do use the Contact link on the homepage to get in touch.

Tony Hockley, CDA Chair

27th February 2020

The Government has now offered more clues regarding post-Brexit agricultural and environmental policies. These will be made possible by legislation now making its way through parliament. The February 2020 farming policy update and a discussion paper on future environmental land management give some cause for hope in terms of continued investment in the New Forest; perhaps even a degree of quiet confidence that the local partnership work of recent years could continue to develop and grow under a new system. As ever in times of change, however, the transition from one system to another also brings very real risks. The biggest of these risks could be reduced quite easily, but it seems hard to get the New Forest voice heard in Whitehall. The dither and delay on the fate of the Verderers HLS does not inspire confidence in decision-making, and suggests we will need to shout more loudly, and much more early.

Dither & Delay: Decision on the Verderers HLS

Exactly one month before the expiry of the Verderers Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) scheme, the Rural Payments Agency finally agreed that this 10-year scheme would roll forward for a year from its February end date, as had happened in 2019 for the National Trust commons HLS. The roll-forward for the Crown lands of the New Forest could now last for up to four years, but decided annually. This may provide a bit of a cushion against the inevitable risks involved in the phase-out of the Basic Payments Scheme support from 2021, affecting many commoners. Nevertheless, several other landholdings in the open Forest have seen their HLS schemes come to an end, so that they are no longer within any form of “environmental stewardship”. The long delay to confirmation has had real impact; key staff from the incredible projects funded by the HLS have been lost due to the uncertainty over their roles, and the challenge of recruiting new expert staff with only short-term funding will be significant. The wetland and heathland restoration projects, and the New Forest Land Advice Service require real, local expertise if they are to continue at their previous pace.

The delay to confirmation of the HLS really was inexcusable given all that has been achieved by the Verderers HLS. This is the biggest agri-environment scheme in England, and one of the most innovative. Lowland heath is one of the rarest habitats in the world, more rare than rainforest, and still being lost. The New Forest is a prime, surviving example. The HLS has enabled parts of the open Forest that were lost to Forestry Commission conifer planting in the 20^th Century, to be restored as fantastic grazed habitats, with incredible biodiversity and huge carbon storage capacity. If the Government is looking for an existing demonstration site for the Government’s ambition of using “public money for public goods”, then the Verderers HLS would be a leading candidate. That the HLS came within 30 days of ending with no viable alternative to replace it was simply ridiculous.

The Verderers HLS also supports a “Grazing Scheme”, offering practical support to New Forest commoning. Direct financial support is tailored to local priorities, with a fixed cap on the amount that can be received by any commoner, giving the greatest support where it is need to mitigate the additional costs of cattle-keeping, along with the provision of a few carefully-targeted cattle “feeding areas” to support cattle herds. It has also helped bring down the number of animals lost to traffic on the roads by providing thousands of reflective collars for ponies and cattle. That all of this can now continue whilst a new system of financial support is devised and introduced is a considerable relief.

Phasing out the Basic Payments Scheme

Anyone familiar with the governance of the New Forest will know that the CAP Basic Payment Scheme is something of a blunt instrument, ill-suited to the needs of this unique landscape. Nevertheless, it has played a vital role in sustaining cattle grazing in particular, following a period in which there was widespread concern that cattle commoning was dying out; threatening the many rare species that depend upon it. The BPS years have enabled commoners to invest in their back-up land and facilities, despite living in Britain’s least affordable national park, and despite the lure of profitable alternative uses of enclosed land within a very popular national park.

Proposed BPS reductions in 2021

Government policy is that BPS support will gradually be phased out from 2021 to 2027, to be replaced from 2024 by new Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS). In the interim new approaches will be tested, funded by the BPS reductions. The policy is that those who receive the most will be first in line for significant cuts to BPS. At present only the year one reductions have been announced. This process does mean that the financial impact on New Forest commoning may not be seen for several years, as the majority of commoners who do claim support under the BPS are at the bottom end of the scale, so will face small initial reductions in the amount they receive for their commoning commitments. Of course, most commoners already subsidise their communing from their day jobs, so that reliance upon the BPS within household income will often be lower than for farmers elsewhere: In this regard New Forest commoning is probably already one of the most diversified farming activities, supported (out of necessity) by multiple income sources and a large “leisure” time commitment.

The end of “mapping”

Some of the practical impact of change, however, will come very soon. From 2021 BPS payments will be “delinked” from the eligible land. This will finally end the nonsense of mapping the “eligible area”; a daft process which, for example, excludes areas of gorse from the grazing land. Gorse is an important habitat on lowland heath and valuable fodder for commoners’ animals. Following this “delinking” the hypothetical amount from which transition payments will be calculated will be based on a “reference period”. The sooner the reference year is set, the better. Knowing that there will be a “reference period” but not knowing what year or years it will be just creates a powerful perverse incentive to maximise the number of animals marked. For the New Forest this creates a huge workload for the agisters, marking animals that will never graze the New Forest. This undermines the credibility of the marking register as a record of grazing levels and the health of the commoning system. With a fixed pot of funding for the eligible New Forest area, this inflationary effect simply punishes responsible commoners: As the number of animals marked increases, the amount received per animal falls. This prospect is made even worse by the suggestion that the amount due for the entirety of the transition years could be taken as a single lump-sum. The perverse incentive in this situation is huge. In this time of uncertainty we will need to sustain the responsible, committed commoners who will stick with the practice whatever comes next, not those who will take the money and run. Even worse some current BPS claimants using New Forest entitlements may take the money pot and and also take the scarce back-up land that they use out of commoning, perhaps putting it to lucrative recreational use. The scarcity of back-up land has long been a practical threat to the continuation of commoning. Every animal turned out to graze must have someone to be kept if and when it is taken off the open Forest.

The Future: One scheme, three tiers?

Once the immediate risks of the transition are dealt with then our attention can turn to the new scheme. DEFRA are suggesting three tiers. The diversity of the New Forest, and the breadth of the public goods it offers, seems to suggest that all three tiers should apply.

Tier one- Encouraging environmentally sustainable farming. This seems the obvious basis for core but conditional support for good commoning practice, similar in some ways to the Verderers Grazing Scheme; backing high standards of animal and land management, delivering multiple public goods on the Forest and on commoners’ back-up land. As for upland commoners, it will be vital that individual commoners receive directly support for the valuable work they do, and the considerable pressures they must withstand.

Tier two – Delivering locally-targeted environmental outcomes. This could follow on from much of the species and habitat-specific collaborative project work that has taken place under the various HLS schemes and within the National Lottery Heritage Fund landscape partnership “Our Past, Our Future” (OPOF) projects. There is still much partnership work to do. For example, on education and engagement, tackling the constant problem of encroachments onto the common land, creating sustainable recreational space around the New Forest, and making New Forest roads safe.

Tier three – land use change projects at landscape scale.  This could be used to scale up the heathland and wetland restoration work, the water catchment partnership, and the Green Halo.  Restoring habitats from the damage inflicted by past development and better protecting the New Forest landscape from modern day pressures; acquiring and restoring new land adjacent to the New Forest, as the National Trust have done at Foxbury and the RSPB at Franchises Lodge.

A steady start?

This is an exciting agenda, and the New Forest is well-placed to benefit from it. As ever, the details matter, and navigating the transition will be a considerable challenge, particularly for the CDA as a voluntary group reliant on individuals giving their time and attention to this important task. With the Verderers and National Trust HLS agreements now extended, and if we can obtain a declaration on the “Reference Period” for transition BPS payments, we will at least be off to a steady start.

The February 2020 DEFRA “Farming for the Future: Policy and Progress Update” is available here.

The February 2020 DEFRA “Environmental Land Management: Policy discussion document” is available here.

The DEFRA consultation on the Environmental Land Management policy discussion is open until 5th May, and can be accessed here.

The Agriculture Bill, and details of its progress through Parliament, can be found here.

The past three years have given ample time for Britain to think about what a break from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) could mean for the countryside and nature. Could the huge amounts of taxpayers’ money that go to the largest landowners be better used?

In the New Forest the CAP’s Basic Payments Scheme has provided a valuable boost to the commoning system, allowing struggling commoners to invest in their back-up land, facilities and herds; all within Britain’s least affordable national park. This has been of immense value since the devastation to the vocational New Forest system of commoning wrought by Foot and Mouth Disease restrictions on cattle in 2001. The BPS does, however, encourage any farmer who occupies land with historic Forest rights to mark their cattle for the open Forest and claim against the Forest’s BPS entitlement – in addition to their entitlement over their own land. This is regardless of any commitment to the Forest and its commoning system. Every animal marked simply to claim additional support means more of the money intended to support the landscape is taken away from it. With a fixed amount based on the “eligible area” of the New Forest (a Brussels saga in its own right), every extra animal marked by the agisters means every commoner’s animal attracts less support.

A new system should bring an end to this nonsense. Public money intended for the New Forest should directly benefit the Forest. Michael Gove, as Environment Secretary after the 2016 Referendum, set out plans to transition from the current system to one of “public money for public goods”. This is a principle with broad support, not least in the New Forest.

This, of course, raises two important questions: “What are the public goods delivered by the New Forest?”, and “How can public policy best conserve and enhance these?”. These need to be addressed in that order for obvious reasons.

Thankfully the protracted political debate since 2016 and the promise of several years of transition between systems have offered time for commoners and our local partners to try to answer the first of these questions. This has not been easy. The New Forest is a complex landscape, with a rich mosaic of connected grazed habitats. These include heaths, wetlands, woodlands, freshwater ponds and streams and coastal saltmarsh. It is inevitable from this extraordinary mix that the range of public goods is also complex and interconnected. Prioritising one can harm another. The consistent vocational tradition of common grazing and its associated land management is, of course, the thread that links it all. But commoning too shows a rich variety across the landscape.

As a first step a group of local partners known as the “Forest Farming Group” has worked with a respected rural consultant, Robert Deane, to produce a paper that attempts to catalogue much of what the New Forest delivers for the nation. Our hope was that this would provide a sensible starting point for a conversation around the ambitions that could be set for the future and the financial support that would be needed to deliver these.

Whilst the language of “natural capital” is adopted, this is in no way an attempt to put a financial value on the New Forest. To do so would draw us into the potentially endless academic argument that embroils such attempts. It would probably be an impossible task, with a result that would convince no-one. We could just as easily have used the alternative language of “ecosystem services” to achieve the same outcome, but it is always best to use the current language of policy. Our aim is simply to start the important discussion of the future of this extraordinary landscape, with a better understanding of the breadth of its value and the interplay between specific outcomes.

A prime example of this interplay lies in winter poaching in some areas of the Forest by cattle. On the one hand areas of poached wet soil are vital to the survival of several rare species for which the New Forest is now renowned. The Small Fleabane is the species most often cited, but it is not the only example. On the other hand these areas may sometimes offer reduced accessibility to the general public when they are poached. There is a trade-off between these two outcomes.

None of this is simple. At the time of writing there is a General Election contest going on between political parties; arguing over who can commit to planting the most trees. It should be informative to this contest that the New Forest (of all places) is currently restoring biodiversity by removing past planting of inappropriate trees that have been harmful to nature: Heathland is one of the world’s rarest and most important habitats. Wetlands and saltmarshes too are vital carbon stores. Cultural heritage  is also a vital component of iconic areas of Britain’s countryside, and in some such as the New Forest it is the base upon which everything else depends. These are complex inter-relationships that need to be properly appreciated, understood, and addressed.A over-zealous single policy focus will neither achieve what is needed, nor even what is (currently) desired.

The “natural capital” paper is just the start of this conversation. With a little support we can have time on our side. The BPS will only be phased out over several years post-Brexit. At the moment we are making the case for the Verderers Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) scheme to be rolled forward, until we have a successor scheme in place, as has already been done for the National Trust HLS on the New Forest Northern Commons. A huge amount has been pioneered and learnt from the HLS work in the New Forest, on very practical ways to support commoning, as well as on restoring nature. We’ve also learnt much in the Heritage Lottery-backed landscape partnership, particularly on engaging people with the New Forest, so that it is better appreciated and understood. This partnership work puts us in a strong place to start working out how we can do much better in the future, balancing and enhancing the public goods that the New Forest gives us.

Tony Hockley

CDA Chair

November 2019