THREE generations of her family have dedicated their lives to nurturing and caring for iconic New Forest ponies.

But Clare Bates fears soaring land and house prices are pushing the ancient tradition of Commoning to the brink.

Now the mother-of-two from Ashurst has won a landmark ruling to develop housing on her land for her children and future generations to keep the tradition alive.

Cheers rang from the public gallery at Lymington Town Hall when the New Forest National Park Authority gave the green light for her to secure land under the Commoners Dwelling Scheme.

Afterwards Mrs Bates wiped away tears of joy as she embraced her supporters and said: “I am grateful that I have the chance to enable future generations of Commoners the opportunity to practice.

“It is vital for the future as land prices and house prices keep going up. How are our children going to be able to afford land?

“Commoning is vital to the survival of the New Forest for all the people who use it.”

Commoners are villagers with the right to let their animals – usually ponies and cattle – graze the land.

They must seek permission from the Verderers Court, develop a brand to identify their stock and pay an annual marking fee permitting them to turn out animals on to the land.

The semi-wild animals normally roam freely, but foals are rounded up at four months old to be handled and need feeding and sheltering to survive their first winters.

Mrs Bates’ grandparents bought their first herd of Foxhills ponies back in 1954.

Now she has applied to build a three-bedroom house on five acres of land off Brockishill Road near Bartley – an area where new builds are normally refused due to its National Park status.

But the house will be subject to a covenant stipulating it must remain in Commoners’ hands and hand over two acres to the National Park.

There will also be two barns – one for housing livestock and hay during the winter and the other for farm machinery and she wants to pass it down to her children George, 12, and Pippa, ten.

Mrs Bates told the planning committee that her current home is not close enough to care for her animals – especially after some of the herd suffered foot abscesses during this year’s monsoon-like winter.

She said: “There is a need for adequate buildings and to live on site.

“It will enable me to continue Commoning long into the future.”

But resident Martin Lander claimed she did not qualify for the Commoners dwelling scheme and said: “How has someone who has been running stock from her existing address prove that she cannot common from her existing dwelling?”