NM14: The Rural Areas in the National Park
Policy NM14: The Rural Areas in the National Park
Development proposals in that part of the designated Neighbourhood Area that lies in the New Forest National Park will only be supported if they are consistent with the adopted development plan policies for that area.
Proposals for rural exception housing schemes that meet the development plan definition will be supported within or adjoining the rural settlement of Bashley, as indicated on the Policies map.
Proposals which would result in the visual coalescence of Bashley (New Forest National Park) with the New Milton will not be supported.
Supporting text
This policy restates for completeness the way in which development proposals will be considered in that part of the Parish that lies within the New Forest National Park, broadly land to the north of the Sway Road and Bashley Cross Road.
The only rural settlement within this area is Bashley, which contains a linear pattern of housing, sports and commercial uses along the B3058 Bashley Road/Bashley Common Road and the cluster of housing around its junction with St. Johns Road. There is also a significant caravan park to its east. Policy SP28 of the adopted New Forest National Park Local Plan Review allows for rural exception housing schemes in locations where there are appropriate facilities, and the Neighbourhood Plan would therefore support rural exception housing that is compliant with the tests set out in Policy SP19 and other relevant policies of the Local Plan.
The policy also supports and provides local context to Saved PolicyDW-E12(Protection of landscape features) from the NFDC Local Plan First Alteration 2005 which states that
development will not be permitted which would cause the loss of, or irreparable damage to, open areas or other landscape features which: contribute to the character or setting of a defined built-up area or defined New Forest village by reason of visual amenity; and/ or screen development which would otherwise have an unacceptable visual impact within and adjoining the defined built-up areas and defined New Forest
There is a clear change in the landscape character between Bashley and New Milton, from pastoral to urban. The former is defined by the NFDC Landscape Assessment (2000) as Sway Pasture and Smallholdings, comprised of Health Associated Smallholdings and Historic Parkland typologies, with the latter being an urban typology within the Barton and Milton Coastal Plains Character Area.
The undeveloped areas and landscape features, including the golf course forming part of the Bashley Holiday Park and other fields located along the Sway Road and the B3058, help define the local character. Development between the two settlements would detract from the contribution that these undeveloped areas make to the quality and character of the local environment and diminish the visual appreciation of Bashley as a gateway into the New Forest. Bashley may also, as noted in the Landscape Assessment, be an important area for back-up grazing for the forest.