New Forest is a local government district in Hampshire, England. Its council is based in Lyndhurst, although the largest town is Totton. The district also includes the towns of Fordingbridge, Lymington, New Milton and Ringwood. The district is named after and covers most of the New Forest National Park, which occupies much of the central part of the district. The main urban areas are around the periphery of the forest. The district has a coastline onto the Solent to the south and Southampton Water to the east.

The neighbouring districts are Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, Dorset, Wiltshire, Test Valley, Southampton and Eastleigh (across Southampton Water). The district also faces the Isle of Wight across the Solent.

The district was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, covering the whole area of two former districts and most of a third, which were all abolished at the same time:

• Lymington Municipal Borough
• New Forest Rural District
• Ringwood and Fordingbridge Rural District (except the parishes of Burton and Hurn, which went to Christchurch, and the parish of St Leonards and St Ives, which went to Wimborne)

The new district was named New Forest after the forest which covers much of the area.

New Forest is one of the most populous districts in England not to be a unitary authority; at the 2021 census only four non-unitary districts had more people. The Banham Commission had recommended that New Forest should become a unitary authority in 1995, but this was rejected by the government.

New Forest District Council
Type
Type	Non-metropolitan district
Leadership
Chair	David Hawkins, Conservative since 13 May 2024
Leader	Jill Cleary, Conservative since 14 November 2022
Chief Executive	Kate Ryan since December 2021
Structure
Seats	48 councillors
Political groups	Administration (26)   Conservative (26) Other parties (22)   Liberal Democrats (14)   Independent (4)   Green (3)   Labour (1)
Length of term	4 years
Elections
Last election	4 May 2023
Next election	6 May 2027
Meeting place
Appletree Court, Beaulieu Road, Lyndhurst, SO43 7PA
Website
www.newforest.gov.uk

New Forest District Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Hampshire County Council. The whole district is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.

In the parts of the district within the New Forest National Park, town planning is the responsibility of the New Forest National Park Authority. The district council appoints four of its councillors to serve on the 22-person National Park Authority.

The council has been under Conservative majority control since 1999.

The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially acting as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements took effect on 1 April 1974. Political control since 1974 has been as follows:

Party in control		Years
	Independent	1974–1976
	Conservative	1976–1991
	No overall control	1991–1995
	Liberal Democrats	1995–1999
	Conservative	1999–present

The leaders of the council since 1990 (formally the chair of the policy and resources committee prior to 2001) have been:

Councillor	Party		From	To
Jack Webb		Conservative	pre-1990	5 May 1991
Jack Maynard		Liberal Democrats	20 May 1991	24 May 1993
John Coles		Liberal Democrats	24 May 1993	24 May 1999
Simon Hayes		Conservative	24 May 1999	18 Nov 2002
Mel Kendal		Conservative	18 Nov 2002	31 Oct 2008
Barry Rickman		Conservative	1 Nov 2008	Mar 2021
Edward Heron		Conservative	12 Apr 2021	14 Nov 2022
Jill Cleary		Conservative	14 Nov 2022

Following the 2023 election, the composition of the council was:

Party		Councillors
	Conservative	26
	Liberal Democrats	14
	Independent	4
	Green	3
	Labour	1
Total		48

The next election is due in 2027.

Since the last boundary changes in 2023 the council has comprised 48 councillors representing 26 wards, with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years.

The district is divided between two parliamentary constituencies: New Forest East and New Forest West.

The council is based at Appletree Court on Beaulieu Road in Lyndhurst. The oldest part of the building was originally a large house, which was purchased in 1954 to become the offices of the New Forest Rural District Council. The building has been substantially extended since becoming council offices.

The whole district is covered by civil parishes. The parish councils for Fordingbridge, Lymington and Pennington, New Milton, Ringwood, and Totton and Eling have declared their parishes to be towns, allowing them to take the style "town council". Whilst Brockenhurst and Lyndhurst are both post towns they have parish councils rather than town councils. The parishes are:

50°52′44″N 1°37′59″W / 50.879°N 1.633°W / 50.879; -1.633