Executive Summary

1. This consultation is aimed at anyone who occupies land or property which gives them rights of common in the New Forest, whether or not they practise those rights, hereinafter referred to as “Commoners”. The consultation forms part of a Feasibility Study investigating how a future Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS) might operate in the New Forest.

2. The Consultation seeks to consult Commoners on the following:
a. how they would like to be represented in future decision-making and scheme applications;
b. what factors would influence the length of commitment that Commoners are prepared to sign up to, and;
c. how they feel current and previous schemes have supported commoning
d. the current location and use of back up land to help establish how this might interact with a future scheme.

3. The consultation will run from 1st September 2024 until midnight on 30th September 2024.

4. This consultation is being co-ordinated by Oliver Cook of New Park Consultancy Limited on behalf of the Forest Farming Group.
Background

1. The Forest Farming Group (FFG) was established shortly after the 2016 referendum as a vehicle to help prepare the New Forest’s farming business for a post Brexit world. Its membership includes the Verderers of the New Forest, Forestry England, The New Forest National Park Authority, Natural England, The New Forest Commoners’ Defence Association and the National Farmers Union. Since then, the group has maintained communication with DEFRA and responded to public consultations.

2. In April 2024 the FFG instructed New Park Consultancy Ltd to conduct a Feasibility Study investigating how DEFRA’s emerging policy on ELMS might best be implemented in the New Forest.

3. The purpose of the Study is to establish:
a. What is considered special about the New Forest in relation to its environmental designations.
b. What area of land is required to protect and support the Forest.
c. How that land should be managed in order to protect and enhance the special qualities of the New Forest.
d. How does the current grazing system play a role in preserving these special qualities and how the system can best be supported.
e. Which agri-environment scheme, or combination of schemes, would be most appropriate for the New Forest?
f. What governance structure will best support one or more future schemes?
g. What further research or studies are required?

4. The Study is being conducted in the context of reducing amounts of public funding being available to New Forest Commoners each year. The Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) ended in 2023 and its successor, “Delinked Payments”, will see those that benefited from BPS receive diminishing payments until 2027, which will be the last year of direct payments from DEFRA to Commoners. The Verderer’s Higher Level Stewardship Scheme operates over the Crown-owned common land in the New Forest. This agreement will expire in February 2028.

5. It is highly likely that any future agri-environment scheme for the New Forest will require there to be an “internal agreement”. This is the document that will capture the relationship between the various stakeholders, allowing there to be a single applicant/organisation which can sign a management agreement with DEFRA. The internal agreement will need to establish how decisions can be taken in a way that represents all that have a legal interest in management of the scheme area. This includes those with rights of common in the New Forest.

6. This consultation follows on from and builds on the work carried out by the Foundation of Common Land (FCL) as part of their Landscape Recovery Test and Trial.
The Consultation Process

Phase 1: Small workshop with commoning representatives on 28th August 2024.

Phase 2: Open meeting for all rights holders and active Commoners to be held on 9th September 2024 at Lyndhurst Community Centre.

Online Consultation: 1st – 30th September 2024.

This Consultation is directed at New Forest Commoners, being anyone who owns or rents property within the New Forest with rights of common attached. (This includes those who are not currently exercising their rights but could potentially do so in the future).

The online consultation responses are to be completed by midnight on 30th September 2024.

If completing a paper copy, please post it by the same date to: New Park Consultancy, Little New Park, Lyndhurst Road, Brockenhurst, Hampshire, SO42 7QH.


Data Protection and Privacy

It is important for us to be able to check that everyone completing this questionnaire is a genuine New Forest Commoner in order that the data we gain from it can be regarded as real and relevant. For this reason alone we will be asking for your full name at the beginning of this questionnaire, but this will not be tied to your responses in any way. Please be assured that your answers will, therefore, be treated as anonymous.

We will not keep any contact details linked with your response. The data will be held in accordance with New Park Consultancy’s Privacy Policy, which can be viewed at www.newparkconsultancy.com/privacy-policy



PLEASE NOTE THAT QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONSES CAN ONLY BE SUBMITTED ONCE FROM EACH EMAIL ADDRESS. If you have been asked to submit answers on behalf of others as well as yourself, each response will either need to be sent from a different email address OR you will need to email info@newparkconsultancy.com and request a fresh link to the survey.
SECTION 1

Please tell us about you as a Commoner and your Commoning activities
This is important as it will establish whether we have a representative cross-section of Commoners included in the Consultation.

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* 1. Blank question to replace name data

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* 2. Please confirm whether you hold rights of common in relation to the New Forest. (ie. Do you personally own or rent property in the New Forest with rights of common attached?)

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* 3. Do you currently exercise your rights of common in the New Forest?

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* 4. Please indicate your age.

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* 5. In which Agister's area do you pay your marking fees? This is determined by where you live. (Please select only one)

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* 6. Which rights do you currently exercise? (Please tick all that apply)

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* 7. In which areas does your livestock normally run? (Please tick all that apply)

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* 8. What livestock do you turn out? (Please tick all that apply)

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* 9. Under your rights of common, how many head of livestock do you expect to be depasturing (turning out) on the New Forest Common Land in 2024?

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* 10. Have you previously claimed the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS)?

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* 11. Have you reduced the number of livestock that you mark in recent years as a result of reduced BPS payments?

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* 12. Are you currently a member of the Verderers’ Grazing Scheme?

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* 13. Are you a member of the New Forest Commoners’ Defence Association (CDA)?

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* 14. If you are not currently a member of the CDA, please explain why.

SECTION 2

Future Agreements

The Verderers Higher Level Stewardship scheme (HLS) supports Commoners through the Verderers’ Grazing Scheme (VGS). At present, Commoners only have to sign up to the VGS rules for a 12-month period. A future scheme may require longer-term commitment by Commoners (practising and non-practising) in order to ensure the scheme's objectives can be met.

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* 15. Would you be prepared to sign up to a 30-year agreement?

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* 16. If you answered "No" to Q15 above, please state the maximum length of agreement to which you would be prepared to sign up. Please explain your reasons.

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* 17. Please indicate your feelings on whether the following factors would potentially incentivise you to sign up to longer terms than at present.

  Strongly Agree Agree Neither Agree nor Disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree
Break clauses
Increased payment rates
Regular scheme reviews
Greater involvement in decision-making processes
Flexibility in scheme rules
Less paperwork
I would not sign up to an agreement of more than one year under any circumstances
I would be happy to sign up to a longer agreement subject to appropriate terms such as those above.

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* 18. What is the ideal frequency at which you would you like to be consulted on the scheme rules?

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* 19. Do you think Commoners should be financially rewarded for the conservation grazing their livestock delivers on the New Forest common land?

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* 20. Without any form of financial support would your commoning activity...

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* 21. A future agri-environment scheme might require a record of the New Forest's stocking density. Whether or not you currently turn out livestock, which of the following methods of estimating livestock numbers would you support? Please rank in order of preference, 1 being your most favoured option, 4 being your least.

  1 2 3 4
Online app for Commoners to record and submit their own real-time movement data
Annual Return and Declaration by Commoners
Conducting a regular census (eg. drone thermal imaging survey)
Marking Fee Register
SECTION 3

Commoners' Representation in a Future Agreement

Previous work conducted under a Test & Trial project identified a possible governance structure for delivering a future environmental agreement. This structure would bind all of the relevant parties into a single contract. Commoners would need to ‘sign up’ to confirm that they will collectively ensure that the desired level of grazing pressure is maintained.

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* 22. Which individual/s or organisation/s would you like to represent Commoners in the development and administration of a future scheme?

  Strongly Agree Agree Neither Agree nor Disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree
Elected Verderers
CDA
A separate individual elected/appointed for this role
SECTION 4

Understanding Commoners' Back-Up Land

We know that back-up grazing and forage is essential for the commoning system in the New Forest. We will need to better understand where this land is and how it is managed in order to establish how a future scheme might be best able to support Commoners.

If you are a practising Commoner please complete all the questions in Section 4.

If you are not a practising Commoner, please proceed to Section 5.

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* 23. Where is the majority of the (enclosed) back-up land that you use as part of your commoning activity?

Map source: New Forest National Park Authority
Boundary Map of NF

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* 24. Approximately how many acres of back-up land that you currently use in connection with your commoning fall into each of the following categories of tenure? Please enter the number of acres in each box and enter a zero against any option which doesn't relate to your own occupation of back-up land.
(Please complete all options which apply):

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* 25. How many acres of land do you use for the following purposes - some land may be used for more than one purpose. Please state the number of acres in each box and enter any comments in the 'Other' box.
(Please enter a zero against any option which does not apply.)

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* 26. Is any of your back-up land currently in an agri-environment scheme (including Environmental Stewardship - ELS or HLS - Countryside Stewardship, Sustainable Farming Incentive)?

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* 27. Besides supporting your livestock that grazes the New Forest Commons, does your back-up land provide any other public benefits (please tick all that apply)?

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* 28. Do you think the current schemes available to you adequately reward you for the public benefits that you provide?

SECTION 5

Sustainability of your Commoning Activities

All Commoners please respond to the questions in this section - whether or not you are practising.

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* 29. Please indicate below how you would describe your income from commoning.

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* 30. Is your current commoning practice financially sustainable (ie. do you break even as a minimum)?

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* 31. Do you need advice from a specialist advisor to help to improve the financial sustainability of your farming/commoning business?

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* 32. Have you introduced any of the following new initiatives or actions in order to make your farming/commoning business more financially viable?

SECTION 6

We would welcome your input on any other issues relating to commoning in the New Forest which are not already covered by this questionnaire.

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* 33. Please briefly note any other comments you have in the box below.

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