1.0 Introduction

1.1 The New Forest District contains a wide variety of environments, including historic towns and villages, suburban areas, industrial estates and very attractive countryside and coastlines. Many of these areas are covered by national and international environmental designations, all of which are subject to high development pressure and all are valued by their residents.

1.2 The District Council deals with all planning matters outside the boundaries of the New Forest National Park. Within the National Park, all planning, including planning enforcement, is the responsibility of the New Forest National Park Authority.

Figure 1: The Plan Area (PDF) [733KB]

1.3 This enforcement plan sets out New Forest District Council's approach to planning enforcement, it explains how breaches of planning control will be investigated, provides guidance on a range of options available to achieve compliance and sets out the priorities we have for investigating alleged breaches of planning control.

1.4 This enforcement plan is intended to provide useful information to anyone who thinks the planning rules may have been broken in the area.