New Forest National Park Authority Local Plan Regulation 19
1.
Introduction and Background
1.1.
The planning system plays a key role in keeping our national parks special and ensuring they remain living, working landscapes. It is for this reason that the Government, through primary legislation, has made national park authorities the sole planning authorities for their respective areas. As part of its statutory planning role, the New Forest National Park Authority is required to prepare, monitor and review a Local Plan for the National Park. Once adopted, the Local Plan forms part of the statutory ‘development plan’ (alongside any ‘made’ Neighbourhood Plans and the separate Minerals and Waste Local Plan) for the New Forest and is the principal guide for planning decisions within the National Park. The Local Plan focuses on the area within the National Park boundary, and it is the responsibilities of our neighbouring planning authorities to prepare the development plans for their respective areas outside the National Park.
1.2.
Key aspects of national policy and statute pertinent to National Parks are set out in the National Parks & Access to the Countryside Act 1949, the Environment Act 1995, the Levelling Up & Regeneration Act 2023, as well as the National Planning Policy Framework and associated guidance. This includes the statutory National Park purposes; the relationship between the two purposes; the Authority’s socioeconomic duty; and the legal requirement placed on relevant bodies – including national park authorities - to seek to further the National Park purposes in undertaking their functions. It is this framework that the New Forest National Park Local Plan is prepared under and operates within.
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