The New Forest becomes Britain's smallest national park at 571 sq km

The 900-year-old park will become the country's smallest national park, by area, but will have one of the largest populations, of 34,000 people.

The decision comes after a seven-month inquiry, following years of campaigning by some environmental lobby groups.

It was opposed by some farmers, who feared fresh restrictions and increased government interference.

It will have a vital role in conserving our natural and cultural heritage Alun Michael Rural Affairs Minister

At a Labour Party conference in Bournemouth in September 1999, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott made the pledge for national park status, saying it was "a birthday present from Labour to the youth of this country".

Announcing the decision on Thursday, Rural Affairs Minister Alun Michael said: "This will be an historic day. After 900 years of special recognition and 50 years after it was first considered for designation, the New Forest will finally have National Park status.

"It takes its place alongside areas such as Dartmoor and the Lake District in the first rank of our protected areas.

"Like the existing parks it will have a vital role in conserving our natural and cultural heritage, and in balancing environmental priorities with those of communities.

"It needs to protect its unique character - valued by so many people, and acknowledged as a national treasure for nearly a thousand years - whilst remaining a working, living place with social and economic needs."

The New Forest National Park Authority will receive an annual government grant of about �3.5m.

Residents' fears

Dr Julian Lewis, Tory MP for New Forest East, said on Thursday that he had not changed his mind that it was "probably not the right decision".

Many of his constituents feared that the new authority would take the future of the area out of local hands, he said.

"The view of many people is that, if the New Forest needed more protection, it should have been done by way of special legislation rather than by the straitjacket of the national park model," Dr Lewis said.

"What this does is remove a consensual system - a system of checks and balances - that has been in place for centuries and replaces it with a single overarching body."

Amongst the rarest species to be found on the forest's gorse and moorland are the Dartford warbler, nightjar and woodlark, as well as the threatened southern damselfly and stag beetle.