LEADING figures in the community spoke this week of their disappointment at the details behind Monday's announcement of national park status for the New Forest.

Fordingbridge district councillor Bob Hale said: "The decisions on the boundary of the national park are curious and I am sure will generate a lot of comment and discussion.

"However, the main issue for me is the way in which the park is to be administered.

"I am very disappointed that we do not have a tailor-made structure, one which acknowledges the uniqueness of the New Forest and the historical nature of its current administration.

"The point of making the New Forest a national park is that it is special, not like anywhere else.

"It therefore doesn't make sense to try and run it in the same way as every other national park."

Hampshire county councillor Kathy Heron said: "It is regrettable that the government has decided to designate the New Forest as a standard national park, when it was the overwhelming opinion of the Forest's residents and their representatives that a tailor-made solution was required.

"I fear that this is a decision based more on political considerations than from a desire to ensure the sustainability of this unique Forest."

Salisbury MP Robert Key has opposed a New Forest national park since the day it was suggested and echoes the concerns of many local councillors.

"This new monster will remove existing democratic control to an appointed quango," he said.

"Another layer of unelected bureaucracy will stifle initiative and turn the forest and the heritage area into a museum, not a living, working community."

He said he feared for the future prosperity of southern parishes in his constituency, such as Redlynch, that were to be inside the national park boundary. "House prices will rise even more and jobs will be difficult to create," he said.