New Forest - planning an event or activity

Due to continuing high levels of requests, please be advised that current processing time for permits is 8 weeks. We will do our best to meet your requests but may not be able to provide permission if you do not make an application in sufficient time.  

Applicants should not advertise future organised activities and events or undertake organised activities and events until written approval has been received from us.    

Consideration for events and activities

We receive over 3,000 applications a year for permits which equates to eight events every single day. Such a high number is unsustainable and would almost certainly have a detrimental effect on the New Forest’s fragile and protected landscape.

By working closely with organisers to minimise any possible impact we have been able to permit around 1,200 organised events and activities, involving over 40,000 people, each year. These range from individual scientific studies to large participation events.

Conservation and legal protection of the New Forest

The New Forest is one of Europe’s most important locations for nature and conservation. It holds the highest possible conservation status (SSSI, SPA, SAC and Ramsar) and is legally protected. Find out more

Legal requirements – Habitats Regulation Assessment

By law, any event or group activity planned to take place on the Forest requires formal permission from Forestry England, as the landowner, before taking place. We are legally required to assess each activity using a Habitats Regulation Assessment (HRA) to ensure that it will not cause any significant harm or impact on protected habitats and wildlife.

The framework for the HRA has been agreed with Natural England, the Government body responsible for checking compliance with law in this area. The assessment criteria has recently been strengthened to reflect increased protection of critical wildlife and landscapes.

It is our aim to find a way to meet the legal requirements to protect the New Forest’s critically important habitats and species while at the same time supporting the health and well-being benefits that organised recreational activities can provide to people.

If the HRA requirements cannot be met or sufficiently mitigated against then it will not be possible to permit the event or activity.

Assessment criteria

Applications are assessed against a number of key criteria, including:

• ecology and wildlife – avoiding disturbance of sensitive locations and protected habitats.
• working forest – avoiding areas where forestry operations are taking place to ensure public safety.
• livestock – the New Forest has free roaming livestock, owned by commoners, grazing on it. This means consideration will be given to activities supporting the welfare of the animals.
• peak pressure – being a popular destination, consideration must be given to avoiding congestion at peak periods and limiting any potential damage to the landscape.
• other planned events – with around 1,200 permitted events and activities taking place each year, we work hard to avoid these clashing and competing for limited parking spaces and facilities.

Apply for permission

If you are interested in holding an event or organised activity in the New Forest, please download and fill in an application form. Completed application forms can be sent to our Permissions Team: southern.permissions@forestryengland.uk