Green light for South Downs National Park
20 year campaign succeeds after government announcement
31 March 2009
It has been more than 60 years in the making but today sees the South Downs become England’s 10th and the United Kingdom’s 15th National Park.
The South Downs Campaign (SDC), a network of 160 organisations [1] is celebrating the news that the Government has confirmed the South Downs National Park in Sussex and Hampshire.
The Park will be established broadly along the lines proposed by the Countryside Agency almost seven years ago in 2002 [2] and will bring greater protection and funding to the area [3]. It includes the hotly contested Western Weald [4], Ditchling and Lewes, the subject of a recent campaign which saw Defra being sent nearly 20,000 postcards [5] calling for the best possible National Park boundary backed by the author Bill Bryson [6]. The Government should be congratulated for providing such a great gift to the nation.
Robin Crane, Chair of the SDC, commented:
“This is fantastic news. This decision vindicates the huge amount of work that everyone involved in the Campaign has done over the years. At times it has seemed like an uphill struggle but now it all seems worth it. We are very pleased that common sense has prevailed over the Western Weald. To have left it out would have been a national tragedy.
“We now hope that everyone will accept this decision and work together for the best interests of the South Downs. Challenging this decision would waste much time and money at a time when wastage can be ill-afforded. In many ways the hard work starts now with the establishment of a National Park Authority and preparation of new policies and plans to guide the future protection and enhancement of this very special area.”
Ruth Chambers, from the Campaign for National Parks (CNP) said:
“This timely announcement comes on the 60th anniversary of the 1949 Act which established the concept of National Parks in England and Wales [7]. It shows that Sir Arthur Hobhouse and his committee in 1947 were right to recommend that the South Downs becomes a National Park and is a welcome addition to the family of National Parks which enjoys public support from all over the UK.”
David Murray from the Ramblers said:
“With nearly 40 million visits a year, more than any existing National Park in the UK, the decision not to designate the South Downs in 1956 was clearly wrong [8]. Since then people have voted with their feet. We are sure that they will continue to do so and enjoy one of England’s finest landscapes in the process.”
Neil Sinden from the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) said:
“This decision could not come soon enough for a landscape which is one of the most pressurised in the country. With the demands for new housing and large-scale development in the South East the National Park Authority will need to be a strong guardian of the South Downs. The pressures don’t stop here but this is an important step towards safeguarding this area for future generations.”
The SDC welcomes the fact that both the Inspector and the Government have listened to the public and the large number of organisations who argued for the inclusion of the Western Weald in the National Park at the re-opened inquiry [9]. The potential exclusion of this area had raised widespread concern about its long term future and protection. Further consultations and public inquiries on setting up a new Western Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty [10] would have been necessary, and the area would have been vulnerable in the mean time.
The SDC is also celebrating the success of Ditchling and Lewes being included in the National Park along with most of the areas that the Inspector proposed should be added in his first report [11].
Notes to Editors
[1] Founded in 1990, the membership of the South Downs Campaign has grown to 160 organisations and includes most of the key national and regional conservation, environmental and amenity organisations concerned with the countryside. It includes over 90 local groups, societies and businesses and 29 parish and town councils.
The SDC is generously supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.
For more information on the SDC visit our website: www.southdownscampaign.org.uk
[2] The Countryside Agency (now Natural England) signed the South Downs National Park Designation Order on 18 December 2002. The area covered by the Order stretched from Eastbourne in the east to Winchester in the west and included the area of lowland heaths known as the Western Weald. It also included the village of Ditchling and the market town of Lewes.
The Designation Order was then placed on deposit in January 2003 for a 3 month consultation, before the Government announced, in April 2003, that a public inquiry into the proposals would be held. The Order attracted nearly 6,000 responses, and the vast majority of responses on the principle of a South Downs National Park were supportive.
[3] The inspector, when concluding in his first report as to whether the South Downs met the criteria, said:
“In my opinion the proposed South Downs National Park contains extensive tracts of land that by virtue of their natural beauty and the opportunities they provide for open-air recreation merit national park status and deserve the additional resources, focus and integrated management that a national park authority could provide.” [Our emphasis]
What is wrong with an AONB body, the current set-up, compared to a National Park Authority?
• It receives far lower funding and has to negotiate annually with 16 different bodies to secure its income (which is not always seen as a priority by its constituent local authorities). A National Park Authority (NPA) receives far more funding direct from Government;
• It is not an independent body (it is a committee of all the local authorities);
• It has no planning powers and no duty to manage recreation;
• It is not permanent so cannot engage in long term projects;
• It is does not have the same status.
[4] The Western Weald is a 330 sq. km area of Low Weald landscapes closely associated with the South Downs, visually, culturally and historically. It covers the area including Petersfield, Liss, Midhurst and Petworth and the surrounding villages, extending up to the Surrey border to include Black Down. It represents approximately 20% of the total designated South Downs National Park area (1,640 sq. km).
[5] The South Downs Campaign launched the postcard campaign (an image of which is available on request or can be viewed on the SDC’s website www.southdownscampaign.org.uk) on 1 December 2008.
[6] Bill Bryson (President of Campaign for the Protection of Rural England) presented the giant postcard, signed by himself and Ben Fogle, Brian Blessed (President and Vice President of the Campaign for National Parks), Floella Benjamin OBE (President of the Ramblers) and David Dimbleby, to Defra on Wednesday, 18 March, 2009.
[7] The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act was passed in 1949 and marked a historic moment in that it allowed the creation of National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty for the first time in England and Wales.
[8] There were first proposals for a body to manage the South Downs as far back as the 19th century. The South Downs was also the location of the National Trust’s first property in the form of Alfriston Clergy House in 1896.
The threats to the South Downs led to the creation of the Society of Sussex Downsmen (now South Downs Society) in 1923 and CPRE in 1926. However, it wasn’t until 1947 that the National Parks Committee chaired by Sir Arthur Hobhouse recommended formerly to Government that the South Downs be made a National Park. Even though the South Downs was in the second tranche of National Parks to be designated (out of three) it was not considered until the end of the process of establishing most of the National Parks in England and Wales. Then in 1956 it was turned down on the grounds that the ploughing up of the Downs meant that it had lost its recreational potential. Over 50 years later and with nearly 40 million visits a year, this has clearly shown to be wrong.
A more detailed timeline of the history of the South Downs is available on request.
[9] At the re-opened public inquiry (12 February – 4 July 2008), the SDC, Hampshire County Council, Natural England and many local people made detailed and forceful arguments as to why the Western Weald should be included.
The original public inquiry ran from November 2003 – March 2005. The Inspector subsequently presented his first report to Government in March 2006, recommending a South Downs National Park but excluding Lewes, Ditchling and the Western Weald. However, the designation process was then held up by legal complications arising out of a boundary dispute in the New Forest National Park.
The Inspector’s first report was subsequently made public in July 2007 when the Government announced a new consultation on the South Downs National Park, particularly on any issues arising out of the clarification of the legislation and the court hearings related to the New Forest. After consideration of all the representations, the Government announced, on 25 October 2007, that the public inquiry would be re-opened on 12 February 2008.
The South Downs Campaign contributed 80 proofs of evidence, written representations and supporting documents to the first part of the inquiry and 84 additional documents to the second.
The Inspector’s second report was subsequently submitted to Government on 28 November 2008.
[10] While it is possible to amend the boundaries of the two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) that cover the Western Weald (the East Hampshire AONB and the Sussex Downs AONB) in the short term, in the longer term it would be necessary to combine them. At this point a new boundary setting process would need to be undertaken. Given the severe challenges made about the quality of some of the land within the Western Weald at the public inquiry, it is questionable whether all the land would be included in any future AONB.
[11] In addition to its work on the Western Weald, the SDC submitted substantial evidence on the inclusion of Ditchling and Lewes to the re-opened inquiry in February 2008.
The SDC also supported many of the 30 additional areas proposed by the inquiry inspector in his first report, although it did agree with objectors that the boundary should be redrawn in a number of places.
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