Last year, when I realised it was going to be difficult for people to respond to the NFNPA consultation NP Plan I supplied some basic information that might assist with letter-writing. This year, as a revised document is being prepared, it has been suggested I revive this. While I could supply a document that provides very basic, one-sentence information, I have decided to extract some of the terms you may come across and provide, although still briefly, some of the legislative principles/objectives attached to them.

It is intended to be a reference document, to show there are a number of threads that are common to most of the documents, and these should not be ignored by the NFNPA. For instance, sustainability, even in a national park, has to pay due attention to socio-economic factors; documents such as the Management Plan have to genuinely reflect the range of all opinions submitted during consultation; decisions and associated actions are to be achieved through partnerships that involve people in the local communities. The key document, the Management Plan, is not for the NPA alone (not for the Authority Members, the NPA staff, or other statutory bodies, alone); as we have seen this provides too much opportunity for those with personal prejudices to inflict these on the local population.

The full document can be viewed/downloaded here:
http://www.newforestequinedirectory.co.uk/downloads/PROMOTINGUNDERSTANDING09.pdf

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Thanks Chris for all the time and effort you are putting into this campaign

I'm sure the information that you have updated will be helpful to people as we enter the 'second round' with the NPA.

Thanks for your efforts.

My personal fears are borne out in your last sentence on your post ";As we have seen this provides too much opportunity for those ..."

We have seen recently seen MP's stand up in parliament rebuking local authorities for interpreting laws for their own purposes, I refer to the highly publicised cases where hastily brought in national security laws have been brought to bear on people putting their dustbins out on the wrong day and sending their children to schools outside of the catchment area.

This is my fear with any hastily brought in NP regulation , that is at some time it will be used out of original context (or perhaps in context for those with hidden agendas) on those with little power to defend themselves. The current economic and insurance burdens have already forced change to the horse loading in some areas this alone emphasises caution in applying quick fixes for perceived problems, the forest has after all been molded and shaped over hundreds of years.

Therefore thank you again for being able to interpret the mass of legal sounding jargon and hopefully being able to expose and help weed out any parts that in the longer term will have adverse affects on the forest horse community.

We all hope the next draft will be free of the loose language of the first one. This was open to much reinterpretation in the future and was a major reason for the protests against it. I am not sanguine, however, that the new draft will be favourable to horse keepers. The published results from the first workshop looked as if they could still be skewed back to the NFNPA's original proposals.

I am sure that as you say Julia the next document will be free of the loose phrases and be clearer (lets hope so anyway), whether they are now acceptable to the majority of Horse owners in and around the Forest is another matter.

Does anyone know what our next action plan needs to be if we do not agree with the next document and would like to see further changes, after all there will be no further 'Public' consultation.

Hi Tony

The NP Plan may be available for public consultation for just 7 days, although One Voice has launched a petition for an extension to this short period. (See other Forum correspondence.)

At the end of whatever period is allowed before the Authority Members approve the Plan the Management Plan section of the document will not be available for more consultation. However, the Core Strategy section will be available for public consultation for a total of six weeks.

Some of us are hoping to be involved in 'interim' viewing of the NP Plan to examine work-in-progress. This is a consultation opportunity that is clearly mentioned in consultation sections of the relevant legislation, even the NFNPA's own Statement of Community Involvement. I have made a formal request for the opportunity to be made available, although commonsense dictates it can only be effected on a limited scale. Inevitably, if necessary, some adverse comments may be made on behalf of the equestrian community! It should also enable those viewing to pass-on information

With so many people unfamiliar with the workings of the total process this may sound like gobbledegook, but things should become clearer. More explanation is available in a letter that should appear in the NM Advertiser, hopefully this week.