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.
Political control The council has been under NOC no overall control since 2026. 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:
Leadership The
leaders of the council since 1990 (formally the chair of the policy and resources committee prior to 2001) have been:
Composition Following the
2023 election, and subsequent by-elections and changes of allegiance up to May 2025, the composition of the council was: Four of the five independent councillors sit together as a group. The next election is due in 2027. The district is divided between two parliamentary constituencies:
New Forest East and
New Forest West.
Premises 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. ==Towns and parishes==