PLANS to close four New Forest car parks to protect rare birds have been given the go-ahead, despite opposition from dog walkers.
The controversial scheme was approved yesterday at a meeting attended by representatives from 21 organisations across the Forest, including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).
They voted 19-two in favour of closing the car parks between March and June each year.
The Forestry Commission plans to shut the facilities at Hincheslea Wood, near Brockenhurst, Crockford and Crockford Clump, near Lymington, and Clayhill, near Burley, to safeguard ground-nesting birds.
The closures had been opposed by the New Forest Dog Owners' Group, which claimed the scheme would make large tracts of the Forest inaccessible.
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