Natural England is advising the Council that, in light of significant evidence about recreational pressure on the New Forest designated sites, it should not approve any additional residential development within 13.8km of the New Forest Special Area of Conservation (SAC), Special Protection Area (SPA) and Ramsar site and 15km for larger developments without first securing appropriate mitigation. You can check whether your site lies within either zone of influence using Dorset Explorer.
The New Forest Strategic Access Management & Monitoring (SAMM) Strategy 2023 report by Footprint Ecology identifies a range of potential SAMM projects and sets out a suitable tariff of £400 per dwelling.
The draft New Forest SAMM Strategy 2025, expected to be adopted in autumn 2025, also identifies other types of development that may have recreational impacts, including:
Each of these will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. In general, each unit may be considered a single dwelling, but the SAMM contribution may be adjusted depending on occupancy rates or development type.
Dorset Council agreed the New Forest Strategic Access Management and Monitoring Strategy 2025 in principle at the Cabinet meeting in December 2025.
The monies to fund mitigation will be secured through a planning obligation. A Section 106 agreement or Section 106 unilateral undertaking is required for all qualifying development.
All dwellings within the 13.8km zone (as defined in the Footprint Ecology report, Discussion and analysis relating to the New Forest SAC/SPA/Ramsar and a zone of influence for recreation) are required to contribute £400 (subject to annual inflation) per dwelling towards a mitigation scheme plus the Council’s standard Section 106 monitoring fee. Larger development schemes of around 200 dwellings or more within a wider 15km zone will also be expected to make a contribution.
Dorset Council has entered into an agreement with the New Forest National Park Authority to direct contributions to their existing mitigation scheme whilst the draft strategy is finalised and a new partnership scheme established.
Much of the New Forest Heaths zones overlap with the 5km Dorset Heaths mitigation zone. According to further research by Footprint Ecology, Visitor use of the New Forest by residents of Dorset and implications for the Dorset Local Plan, the infrastructure projects provided for Dorset Heaths mitigation will also be sufficient for the New Forest Heaths. Therefore, only a SAMM payment will be required for developments in the overlap area. There is a small area to the west of Cranborne which sits within the New Forest Heaths zones but outside the Dorset Heaths 5km buffer. Given the rural nature and location within the National Landscape development will be limited and dealt with on a case by case basis when considering any need for infrastructure projects.
Details of the research into visitors and recreational impact in the New Forest is available.
