Forestry England looks after over 1,500 woods and forests across the country. This includes around half of the New Forest National Park including most of its green space that is accessible to the public.
We provide car parks right across the New Forest and charging for parking will begin here on Monday 20 April.
Everyone paying to park is helping to fund vital work to look after this very special landscape. Thank you.
Supporting the New Forest
Our work includes planting thousands of trees, conserving wildlife, managing vegetation and restoring heathlands and rivers. We help millions of people enjoy the area by providing hundreds of miles of paths and cycle routes, 10 campsites and 129 car parks. Our rangers patrol the area every day of the year and help address anti-social behaviour.
We currently receive less than 20% of our core funding from the government with the rest having to be found from our own activities including things like timber sales and car parking charges. Parking charges help us to care for this special place.
How it works
Charges are in place at all of our 129 car parks and apply to all vehicles including motorbikes and blue badge holders.
The price of parking is in line with other similar locations in the area. Prices start at £1.50 for one hour, £3 for 2 hours, £5 for 4 hours and £8 for over 4 hours.
Key things to know
- Our car parks are open between 4:00am and 11:00pm every day of the year.
- We do occasionally have to close car parks temporarily and more information on these planned closures can be found here
- Anyone failing to pay for parking or parking during 11:00pm to 4:00am when the car parks are closed may be liable to a parking charge notice (PCN). More information on this process can be found here
- A grace period of 15 minutes will apply in car parks before charges apply. This enables anyone dropping someone off, or not able to find a parking space and needing to exit, to do so within this timeframe without being charged.
- Tickets are transferrable between all Forestry England car parks in the New Forest making it easy to visit several locations with one payment.
Membership
Forestry England national membership provides parking in the New Forest for £96 per year, the equivalent cost of £1.85 a week, with the option of payment by monthly installments at £8 per month. Annual contract applies.
Ways to pay for parking
Mobile payment
Options to pay include via the RingGo app, through the RingGo website or by calling the RingGo dedicated phone number 0203 046 0063. Please note a mobile phone is needed to access all of these RingGo services.
- Drivers will not incur any additional booking fees from RingGo for paying for parking via these methods. This cost will be absorbed by Forestry England.
- It is possible for anyone using the RingGo app to opt in for additional services such as text alerts at their own choice and these incur charges.
- To deal with any problems with mobile signal, visitors can pay later until midnight the day after visiting.
Cashless pay machines
Machines taking card payments are available in 16 car parks - Bolderwood, Bolton’s Bench, Bolton’s Cricket, Bolton’s Queens, Brock Hill, Burley, Burley Cricket, Dibden Inclosure, Horsehoe Bottom, Linford Bottom, Moonhills, Picket Post, Reptile Centre, Stoney Cross, Whitemoor Pond, Wilverley Inclosure.
- Parking sessions bought at these pay machines are transferable. They can be used to cover parking at any of the 129 Forestry England New Forest car parks, as long as the payment covers the total length of your stay.
- The number of pay machines is limited as network connectivity is insufficient to support a machine in some locations, as well as the avoidance of installing infrastructure in this natural setting.
Membership
Forestry England national membership removes the need to pay for each visit and can be particularly helpful for people who visit regularly. As a national member, you do not need to display your membership car disc here, your number plate will be recognised. Please visit Manage My Membership if you need to update your vehicle registrations.
Only one vehicle is permitted per visit. If you are intending to bring a second registered vehicle at the same time from the same household, the second vehicle will need to pay standard car parking charges. Read our Membership FAQs for further information.
Accessible payment
We understand that not everyone has a mobile phone or access to the internet and so provide additional methods of payment to support accessibility.
- Visitors with access needs, can make payment after their visit by calling Forestry England Customer Relations on 0300 068 0400 and selecting option 1.
- Lines are open Monday to Friday from 9:00am to 5:00pm. For assistance outside these hours, visitors are asked to call back as soon as the line reopens, and no later than three days after parking, so we can ensure a penalty charge is not issued.
- Visitors will be asked to provide their parking location, duration, and vehicle registration.
Questions you may have
Caring for the New Forest has become increasingly expensive. This includes the price of materials needed to repair and maintain car parks which have increased by more than 50% over the last three years. At the same time, higher levels of damage to trails and car parks have been caused by prolonged bad weather and increasing usage.
The amount of work we need to do to look after this protected landscape has also significantly increased.
We can no longer continue to carry out the wide range of work we do in the New Forest without additional funding.
Charging for car parking plays a vital role in us being able to continue to look after this precious landscape for everyone to enjoy and avoid the closure of car parks or trails.
Recognising the importance of the New Forest to the local community and regular visitors, there is a discounted parking scheme in place. An annual Forestry England membership enables people to park as often as they like for £1.85 a week. It is possible to pay for membership as a one-off yearly payment of £96 or via a monthly direct debit of £8 to help spread the cost.
Membership can be purchased for a household and include two car registrations. Free parking applies to one registered car at a time. If two vehicles are used at the same time, the second to arrive will need to pay normal parking charges.
To find out more and purchase a National Membership here
We also sell Membership from our office in Lyndhurst to support anyone not able to access the internet and would like help from our team.
A Forestry England National Membership provides free parking in all of the 129 car parks managed by Forestry England in the New Forest.
As an added benefit, members will also be able to park in the majority Forestry England car park in England where charges apply. Please see our National membership page for further information on where you can visit.
The scheme provides good value when compared with other similar organisations where the price of a household membership can range from £103 to £144 a year.
The money raised by Forestry England memberships purchased by regular visitors to the New Forest will support our work in the area and we are grateful for this vital support. Thank you.
We have a number of disabled parking spaces in the New Forest. These allow blue badge holders to park close to their destination. We also provide accessible trails in many locations across the New Forest and these cater to a range of abilities. Find out more
Parking charges apply to all vehicles, including blue badge holders, and the money raised will help to look after the New Forest and maintain facilities for people to enjoy the area.
The introduction of parking charges in the New Forest has not made any changes to where horse boxes and trailers can park within our car parks. All vehicles are charged the same fee to park which can either be paid on each visit or via a Forestry England membership costing around £8 a month.
Vehicles attached to a horse box or trailer will not be required to make an additional payment and will count as one vehicle.
Parking in the heart of the New Forest has always only permitted in official Forestry England car parks and not on verges, in car park gateways, or in front of access points and barriers. This is to prevent damage and erosion to the Forest.
We already have an ongoing programme in place where irresponsible parking in areas at risk of damage and erosion is deterred through the use of wooden bollards and ditches.
The introduction of the car park charging scheme has provided additional powers to protect these areas, including the ability to enforce. It has also boosted our staff on the ground by establishing a new and dedicated team to monitor and help protect any locations being used for unofficial, damaging or dangerous parking. This will include at entrances to car parks, at access points to forest properties and on verges.
The New Forest has joined many other forests across the country where Forestry England already charges for parking to help fund our work to care for the nation’s forests.
Find more information on how to appeal a parking charge notice (PCN)
If you have a question that is not covered please email us at southern.enquiries@forestryengland.uk