PEOPLE living in the New Forest National Park are facing a raft of new planning controls.

Extra rules are being brought in to safeguard the character and appearance of the National Park, which will come into being next week.

Residents in the protected zone will now need planning permission for home improvements that have never before needed consent.

These include satellite dishes on properties that are next to a road or more than 15 metres high.

Garden swimming pools that are more than ten cubic metres in size will also require planning permission.

The changes have been announced in the wake of yesterday's announcement that the National Park will be formally designated on Tuesday.

A leaflet explaining the new planning regulations will be published by the district council on the same day.

A council spokesman said: "In the past people could extend a home by 70 cubic metres or 15 per cent without planning permission, but this has been reduced to 50 cubic metres or ten per cent of its volume.

"External cladding will now require planning permission.

"Garden buildings and enclosures such as swimming pools are more likely to require permission if they're more than ten cubic metres in size.

"Changes to the shape of the roof of a home will now always need consent.

"Permission will be required for a satellite dish on the wall or roof of a house if it fronts on to a road or is more than 15 metres high."

The spokesman said the changes would apply only to properties that were inside the National Park, which will cover a 570 square km area inhabited by 34,000 people.

The other 140,000 residents in the district will be exempt from the new rules because they live in urban areas outside the park's official boundary.