NEW Forest roadsides could be littered with walkers’ cars if parking charges are introduced after a sell-off of the nation’s forests, claim campaigners.

The chairman of the New Forest Association, William Ziegler, warned of “chaos” if the forest’s new owner imposes charges.

He said: “People will try to avoid them by parking on verges and in gateways”.

He also predicted the installation of “ugly payment machines and parking signs” and claimed less affluent people would be put off visiting.

Heather Gould, secretary of New Forest Dog Owners’ Group, also opposes charging.

She said: “We would probably try not to have that happen because it does stop the freedom of walking and would encourage parking on verges, frowned on by the Forestry Commission, and if they do start charging, there would be cars all over the place.”

The main contender to run the New Forest after the government’s sell-off of woodlands and forests is the National Trust, which has a policy of charging for parking.

It has said it is prepared to take a leading role, but would not consider managing the New Forest unless secure funding is available, it is considered the best option and has public support.

The New Forest Commoners’ Defence Association claim some forest keepers and commoners in commission-owned properties could lose their homes if they were sold off by a new owner. One said: “You’re talking telephone numbers when it comes to a house with land in the New Forest. I couldn’t afford to buy somewhere around here because property prices are phenomenally high.”

New Forest West constituency MP Desmond Swayne has welcomed the move but his New Forest East colleague Dr Julian Lewis spoke out against it in parliament.

Dr Lewis told the Commons he was “fed up” with having to defend policy U-turns or policies not in the election manifesto.

PM David Cameron has pledged to “listen to all the arguments”.

n THE sell-off of the forests represents a “real risk” to the future of Dorset’s natural heritage, says Dorset Wildlife Trust. It said the county had plantations which had once been heathland and that the Forestry Commission had helped restore some of these sites as wildlife habitats.