Hampshire council area

Selling Land in New Forest District

New Forest District Council plans only for the ring of towns and villages around the National Park, and that ring is tightly hemmed in by Green Belt, coast, habitats and Cranborne Chase. Its own evidence shows a gap of almost 9,000 homes between what it needs and what it can yet identify, and in September 2026 it restarted its local plan under the new national system.

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New Forest District at a Glance

The National Park lies at the centre of the district, and the council's plan area wraps around it in three parts. The Waterside, which the council says holds about 37% of the district's population, takes in Totton, Marchwood, Hythe and Fawley along Southampton Water. The South Coastal Area includes Lymington, New Milton and Milford on Sea. The Avon Valley and western downlands hold Ringwood, Fordingbridge and Bransgore, about 27,000 people in all, with the River Avon running south to Christchurch Harbour.

Below half its target. The Housing Delivery Test 2025 recorded 579 homes built against a requirement of 1,200, a result of 48%.
Well short of a five-year supply. The council's latest assessment, from a base date of 1 April 2025, puts its supply at 1.53 years for 2025/26 to 2029/30.
A plan from July 2020. The Local Plan 2016 to 2036 Part One set a requirement of at least 10,420 homes for the area outside the Park, stepping up to 700 a year from 2026/27.
A far larger figure now. The government's standard method asks for 1,254 homes a year across 2025 to 2043, or 22,572 in total.
Little unconstrained land. The adopted plan records that 21% of its area is Green Belt, 28% lies in the Cranborne Chase National Landscape and about 15% faces flood or erosion risk.

The council needs far more homes on a small, crowded piece of land, and cannot show the supply national policy expects. That keeps pressure on well-placed sites, and it is why its options paper weighed expansions of towns ringed by Green Belt, such as Lymington and New Milton.

New Forest District in Figures

The government's latest figures for the council, and where its local plan stands.

Housing Delivery Test 2025
48%
Below 75%: treated as having evidenced unmet housing need under national policy S5.
Homes built against homes needed
579
of 1,200 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
July 2020
More than five years old, so its housing figures are usually replaced by the government's standard method.
New plan progress
Updated
New plan: spatial options consultation February to March 2026
Checked source

Sources: Housing Delivery Test: 2025 measurement, MHCLG, published 17 August 2026; Local plans: monitoring progress, Planning Inspectorate, August 2026. Local plans move quickly, so always check the council's own website for the latest position.

Which Side of the Park Boundary Is Your Land?

This is the first thing we check. The council's options paper puts it plainly: planning within the National Park is the responsibility of the New Forest National Park Authority, which prepares a separate local plan. The six market towns of Totton, Hythe, Lymington, New Milton, Ringwood and Fordingbridge are all in the district's plan area. Brockenhurst, by contrast, is in the Park, and the council's own description of its area refers to the main line level crossing there as lying outside its plan area.

Inside the Park. The Park Authority decides applications under its own plan, with the highest landscape protection, and the district's delivery result does not apply.
Outside the Park, but in the Green Belt. Most land round the coastal towns and in the Avon Valley is in this category. The unmet need route in national policy S5 is not available in the Green Belt, so the question becomes whether the land counts as grey belt or is previously developed.
Outside the Park and the Green Belt. The council's options paper places the Green Belt across the South Coastal Towns and Avon Valley area, so the Waterside sits outside it. This is where the 48% result carries the most weight, as long as the site sits well against an existing settlement and the other tests are met.
In Cranborne Chase. The council records 6,750 hectares of the National Landscape in its plan area, in the downlands of the north west. Great weight goes to its landscape and scenic beauty, and larger schemes face a demanding test.

Where a holding straddles one of these lines, each part is judged on its own terms, and often the useful part is the few fields closest to the town.

A Local Plan That Changed Course in 2026

Work on a new plan began in 2024. After an issues and scope consultation, the council consulted from 6 February to 20 March 2026 on spatial options for 2025 to 2043, ranging from growth in line with the current settlement hierarchy to large town and village expansions, a new settlement and more growth in the small rural villages.

Even all the options together did not close the gap. After counting 6,835 homes already allocated, permitted or expected as windfall, the council projected a shortfall of at least 8,910. It also stopped counting on about 1,380 homes at the former Fawley power station, now considered unlikely to come forward for housing.

Where the Council Was Looking

The paper identified 15 broad growth areas. Local reporting in August 2026 listed the larger ones: about 1,200 homes at New Milton, 1,000 at Lymington, 650 at Everton, 500 at Hordle, nearly 3,000 at Fordingbridge and 2,500 for a new settlement near Downton, close to 10,000 in all. That is more than the paper's own sums, most likely because the paper counted only what could be built by 2043, crediting the new settlement with 700 homes in that time, while the reported figures give each area's full size. None of these is an allocation, and after the restart they carry little weight on their own.

Why the Published Timetable No Longer Applies

The options paper still shows a final draft in autumn 2026, submission by December and examination in spring 2027. That timetable no longer stands. Cabinet backed stopping the review on 5 August 2026, and local reporting records that a plan due with the government by 31 December 2026 was no longer considered realistically deliverable, given reorganisation, the Hampshire and Solent Combined County Authority and changing national requirements. Full Council made the decision on 14 September 2026, the date on the council's Local Plan page. What matters for a landowner is the result: a new plan under the new system, informed by the evidence gathered so far, with its programme still to be published. That means no new allocations for a while, and planning applications under national policy as the practical route meanwhile.

Our explainer on how call for sites and local plans work walks through the stages ahead.

Green Belt Round the Coastal Towns and Ringwood

The South West Hampshire Green Belt adjoins the South East Dorset Green Belt to the west. In the council's words it tightly surrounds all the settlements of the South Coastal Area, so land on the edge of New Milton, Hordle, Everton, Milford on Sea and Lymington is usually Green Belt. The adopted plan's vision also commits to continued protection of the lower Avon Valley as Green Belt.

The 2020 plan already released some Green Belt land for strategic sites where it no longer strongly served Green Belt purposes. The council has now gone further in its evidence. A Part 2 Green Belt Assessment, finalised in February 2026, treats Ringwood, New Milton with Barton on Sea, and Lymington as large built-up areas, alongside the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole conurbation. That matters because the first Green Belt purpose is about checking the sprawl of large built-up areas, and a parcel that does not strongly serve it is one step closer to being grey belt.

Grey belt is decided site by site, with the Golden Rules then applying. Our guide to how grey belt is assessed sets out the tests.

Habitats, Nutrients and the Coast

The adopted plan requires habitat mitigation for all new homes, because of the protected Forest and the internationally important coast. These are known costs, not reasons to stop.

Requirement	What it involves
Recreational mitigation for the New Forest and Solent sites	A contribution per home on schemes of fewer than 50 homes, set by bedroom numbers. From 1 April 2026 it ranged from £5,512 for a two-bedroom home to £8,106 for three bedrooms. Schemes of 50 or more homes provide mitigation land on site instead.
Bird Aware Solent	A further payment of between £501 and £1,299 per home within 5.6 kilometres of the Solent and Southampton Water protected area.
Air quality monitoring	A fixed £117 per home towards monitoring traffic emissions near the protected habitats.
Nutrients	The council's options paper flags the effect on water quality of extra phosphates or nitrates reaching the River Avon or the Solent, so new homes need a nutrient solution.
Flood and coastal change	The options paper treats flood risk and coastal change as separate topics and notes flood risk of different kinds at several larger settlements. Our flood risk guide covers the sequential test.

On a larger holding, land kept as green space for walkers can double as recreational mitigation, and farmland taken out of intensive use can offset nutrients for the homes on the rest.

What We Look for in New Forest District

Fields on the edge of Totton, Marchwood, Hythe, Holbury and Blackfield, outside the Green Belt.
Land round Fordingbridge and the Avon Valley villages that sits clear of the river flood plain.
Green Belt land on the edge of New Milton, Lymington, Ringwood or Hordle that is enclosed by roads, homes or other development.
Former yards, nurseries, depots and equestrian sites with lawful buildings or hardstanding.
Holdings of 20 acres or more, where part of the land could provide green space or nutrient mitigation.

Our page on farmland with development potential explains our approach. We pay for the surveys and reports, and you keep farming or grazing the land until completion.

Questions From New Forest Landowners

My land is just inside the National Park. Does the 48% result help?

No. The Housing Delivery Test result belongs to the district council, and the Park Authority decides applications inside its boundary under its own plan and the strongest landscape protection in national policy. Land just outside the Park is a different matter.

The council has restarted its plan. Should I wait for the new one?

Not necessarily. The new plan is at an early stage and its timetable has not yet been published. With a supply of 1.53 years against the five national policy expects, a site that works on its own merits can be put forward as an application now, and we can also make sure it is known to the council when the new plan begins.

My field near New Milton is Green Belt. Is there any route?

Possibly. The council's Part 2 Green Belt Assessment now treats New Milton and Barton on Sea as a large built-up area, which changes how nearby parcels are judged. Whether your field is grey belt depends on how strongly it serves the Green Belt purposes, and that is something we assess early.

Who pays the habitat and nutrient charges?

They are a cost of the development, not a bill for you, and are allowed for in the price we agree at the start.

I farm near Fordingbridge. Does the River Avon cause problems?

It adds two things to check: whether the land is in the flood plain, and how the nutrients from the new homes will be offset. Land above the flood plain is judged in the normal way, and nutrient mitigation can sometimes be found on the same holding.

Tell Us About Your Land in New Forest District

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Sources

We update this page when new Housing Delivery Test results or local plan milestones are published. Planning positions change quickly, so always check the council's own website before relying on it.