A £1.3m plan for Bath Road recreation ground in Lymington includes filling in the sea water pond and replacing the bandstand. Comments close 21 October.
The sea water pond at Bath Road Recreation Ground in Lymington would be filled in under plans now out for public comment. The district council’s press release lists a bigger playground, wider paths and a performance space to replace the bandstand. It does not mention the pond.
The pond is in the council’s own business case for the project. That document, published with a Cabinet report in August, lists “pond infill and landscape reconfiguration” in the project scope. The indicative construction budget is about £1.3 million.
Residents have until 21 October to comment online. More than 300 people had already taken part by 1 October.
What is proposed
New Forest District Council announced the consultation on 28 September, jointly with Lymington and Pennington Town Council. The town council owns and runs the park. The release lists these proposed improvements:
- a larger, enclosed playground with new accessible play equipment and picnic areas
- wider, more accessible paths linking the town, the car park, the marina and the seafront
- a performance space replacing the existing bandstand, for events and recreation
- new planting, trees, hedging and landscaping for biodiversity
The council says it “would look to” deliver the project in 2027.
What the business case adds
The fuller picture is in the business cases appendix to the Cabinet report of 5 August 2026. Its project scope reads:
- enhanced play area and water play facilities
- pond infill and landscape reconfiguration
- event and performance infrastructure improvements
- pedestrian safety improvements through Bath Road car park
- improved paths, seating, lighting and public realm
- biodiversity, planting and landscape improvements
- public art and heritage interpretation features
The document is blunt about the pond. It says the sea water pond “occupies a significant proportion of the available space”, is “in poor condition”, is “difficult to maintain” and “provides limited biodiversity value”. It calls the bandstand “undersized, inaccessible and no longer suitable” for modern events.
It also names a safety problem. Walking routes through the Bath Road car park are “unclear” and present “a recognised local safety concern”, it says, particularly between the Sea Baths area and the Bath Road frontage.
The pond in the park is not the Lymington Sea Water Baths, the open-air pool next to it. The baths are not in this project’s scope. They have their own plans, which the town council says have support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The money
The scheme is paid for from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), a charge on new development. The business case gives these figures:
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Indicative construction budget | about £1.3m |
| External consultants through to handover | about £260,000 (roughly 20%) |
| Professional fees already spent | £40,230 |
| Town council’s own commitment to play provision | £100,000 |
The £1.3 million does not include the play facilities, which the business case says the town council will fund. The figures come from early concept drawings and may change at detailed design.
Bath Road is one of four projects that the Cabinet agreed on 5 August should go to public consultation. The Cabinet report puts the estimated works costs at:
- Bath Road Recreation Ground, Lymington: £1.3m
- Totton Civic Square: £1.3m
- Forestry England multi-user trails: £600,000
- Brokenford Lane Link, Totton: £400,000
The same meeting held back further strategic CIL money for Ringwood’s market place scheme, estimated at £11m to £12m, and turned Milford-on-Sea’s seafront plans into a longer-term project. We covered the separate round of 91 local CIL bids in September.
How long it has been coming
The idea is not new. The Cabinet report says Bath Road was first flagged as the “LY1 project” in the council’s 2014 recreation mitigation planning document, as a way to ease recreational pressure around Lymington. A 2024 Cabinet report listed it again, with flood defence works and habitat mitigation as part of the project.
The town council formally endorsed the concept designs in May 2026, the August report says, subject to a public consultation.
The August report’s timetable runs further than the press release’s “2027”. It shows public consultation in autumn and winter 2026, detailed design in spring 2027, procurement in autumn 2027 and completion in summer 2028, all subject to “positive consultation outcomes”.
What it means for you
- Have your say by 21 October. The consultation page is on the council’s Go Vocal platform and runs from 28 September to 21 October 2026. The platform showed 315 participants on 1 October.
- If the pond matters to you, say so directly. The press release does not mention it, so comments that only respond to the release may not address the biggest physical change.
- Event organisers and kiosk operators are to be consulted separately through the town council, the business case says. It names the organiser of the Lymington Seafood Festival and the coffee and ice cream kiosk operators.
- Bath Road residents next to the park are to be consulted individually.
- The drop-in at Lymington Town Hall was on Wednesday 30 September and has now passed. Questions can go to the council’s communications team at communications@nfdc.gov.uk.
For other planning decisions across the district, see our New Forest planning news page.
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