FUTURE residents at a new Hampshire care home will be banned from keeping a car – in a bid to prevent them from driving to the New Forest.

The 68-bed home in Stubbington Lane, Fareham, was approved by councillors who reluctantly imposed the car ban condition set by Natural England.

It comes as Natural England has drawn up a plan to prevent disturbance to the New Forest. This includes recommending planning conditions on developments in council areas within a 13km radius of protected sites.

As well as Fareham, the zone includes Eastleigh, New Forest, Southampton, Test Valley and Wiltshire council areas.

Speaking at a recent planning meeting, Fareham Borough Council’s Warsash ward councillor Michael Ford said the condition was utterly bizarre.

He said: “My first thought when I read this was – has this come out of the Soviet Union or the People’s Republic of China?

“You will have no children – you will have no cars,” he said.

He said he fears the same condition could be applied in further planning applications yet to come.

It comes after ecologists were commissioned to research areas that negatively impact certain  sites in the New Forest previously given special protection by the European Union.

The Zone of Influence report, by Footprint Ecology, draws up a 13.8km radius catchment area in which it is thought new developments could have an adverse effect.

Footprint Ecology recommended excluding Fareham in the 13.8km implementation area – due to the Solent acting as a barrier – but  Natural England included the borough anyway.

A spokesperson from Natural England said: “Most visitors to New Forest designated sites originate from within a 13.8km radius of the protected site boundaries.

“It is Natural England’s advice that new residential development within this zone is likely to have a significant effect on the sites via recreational impacts, alone or in combination with other plans or projects, without suitable mitigation.”