The National Park is Coming!
On 31 March 2009, Hilary Benn, the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, announced that the South Downs National Park should be created. A National Park Authority is expected to be set up in 2010, assuming full powers on 1 April 2011. Scroll down for facts and figures about the National Park.
Celebrate the National Park by coming for a stroll with the South Downs Society
Tue 22 Sept
CAR FREE DAY: EAST
Start: 11.00am Brighton Marina Main Bus stop (Nos 7,21,25c,47,52), 122/337032
Family friendly (buggy) short walk. Linear stroll along 65 million year old undercliff walk to Rottingdean. Picnic on beach, pubs or tea rooms at end.
2 miles
Tue 22 Sept
CAR FREE DAY: WEST
Start: 10.30am, Bus stops near All Saints Church, Catherington Lane, 120/695144
Bus 37 from Havant or Waterlooville or Rail Link (37) from Petersfield station 9.45am. Walking across Catherington Down. PICNIC en route.
6 miles
Thu 24 Sept
Start: 10.30am, Car Park below Cissbury Ring (NW) end of minor road past Nepcote Green, 121/138085
Monarch’s Way, Lychpole Farm, Canada Bottom. PUBS in Findon after end.
5 miles
Wed 30 Sept
Start: 9.30am Outside Lewes Railway Station, 122/416099
Half of the way is on the line of the dismantled railway and the other half on Downland. PUBS and cafes in LEWES after end.
7 miles
Fri 2 Oct
Start: 11.10am, Amberley Station, 121/026118
5 ½ miles
Tue 6 Oct
HARVEST FESTIVAL
Start: 10.30am, Whiteways Lodge C.P., 121/002108
‘Harvest Festival’ Undulating downland tracks and woods. Viewing the annual colourful pumpkin display. PUB (The Spur, Slindon) en route.
7 ½ miles
Fri 9 Oct
Start: 1.30pm, Duddleswell on B2026, 135/467279
Forest and woods. Tea (Duddleswell Tea Rooms) at end.
5 miles
Mon 12 Oct
Start: 10.00am Charlton Road, East Dean. Park near pub, 121/904130
Downland walk. PUB at end.
4 ½ miles
Wed 14 Oct
Start: 10.30am Newick-Allington Road – 150 yards E. of junction with A272
135/409210
Farmland and Commons. PUB (Kings Head, Chailey) en route.
6 ½ miles
Thurs 22 Oct
Start: 10.30am Rowlands Castle Railway Station, 120/735108
Downs and woodland. PUB (The Victoria, West Marden) en route.
8 miles
Tue 27 Oct
Start: 10.00am, Bolney Crossroads Old A23 – east of new A23, 134/266225
Rolling grassland and woods in Weald. Could be wet in places. PUB (Eight Bells, Bolney) en route.
7 miles
Thu 29 Oct
Start: 10.30am, Upper Lodges (off Ditchling Road), 122/324098
Downland – no steep hills. PUB (The Swan, Falmer) en route.
6 ½ miles
Jacquetta Fewster, Director of the South Downs Society, said “It is wonderful news that the South Downs are to become a National Park. What better way to celebrate, and learn more about our brand-new National Park, than to join us for one of our Festival walks?”
“From the Seven Sisters in the East, to Old Winchester Hill in the West, and many points in between, our walks take in hundreds of viewpoints and lesser-known gems as well. We’ll explore beautiful woodlands turning crimson in the autumn sun, heaths bursting with birdsong, and springy chalk hills dotted with late flowers. There are so many stunning areas waiting to be discovered.”
Details of all the Festival Walks are available on the website at www.southdownssociety.org.uk, or by post from the South Downs Society, telephone 01798 875073.
Walkers should wear stout footwear, bring a drink, and a mac in case there’s a shower.
The South Downs Society is a conservation charity which has been working to protect the beauty of the South Downs since 1923. It organizes over 300 walks a year, as well as special visits and lectures for members. Volunteers are always welcome – to help with conservation work and education and access projects.
The Society is grateful for the support of the West Sussex Gazette, www.westsussextoday.co.uk
Facts and Figures about the South Downs National Park
- The South Downs National Park will broadly encompass the territory proposed by the Countryside Agency in 2002.
- It will cover 627 square miles.
- The territory includes the chalk hills, the Western Weald (including Petersfield, Liss, and MOD land at Woolmer Forest and Longmoor Training Estate), Lewes, and Ditchling and land to the north.
- The area is home to an estimated 120,000 people.
- Most of the land currently within the Sussex Downs and East Hampshire Area of Oustanding Natural Beauty is included, but the National Park excludes about 8 square km in around 72 small parcels of land either because the requisite quality was found to be lacking, or so that a boundary could be formed which was clear and readily identifiable. These areas will lose the protected landscape status. He decided not to include marine areas beyond the mean low water mark.
- Six additional areas are being considered for inclusion in the National Park: Alice Holt, Plumpton, Patcham Recreation Ground, Rodean Crescent, Castle Goring and land east of Titnore Lane, and the verges and embankments on the northern side of the A27. A Hearing of Objections/representations was held on Tuesday 18th and Wednesday 19th August at the Chatsworth Hotel, Steyne, Worthing BN11 3DU. The Hearing also heard respresentations into Green Ridge (DEFRA believes there may have been some confusion over the Inspector's intentions) and Gote Farm (DEFRA believes there may have been a mistake over Gote Farm).
- A National Park Authority will be set up. It is anticipated it will be established and members appointed to it from April 2010, followed by a year of preparatory work. The National Park Authority is likely to become operational from 1 April 2011.
- It will have between 29 and 37 members, and a consultation will run until October on this.
- The Secretary of State will consult the local authorities with land in the Park before he decides the number of local authority members, the councils by whom they are to be appointed, or the number each can appoint.
- The Secretary of State takes the view that the National Park Authority should delegate its development control work so far as is possible to its constituent local authorities (though this is a decision for the NPA)
- A challenge to the decision in the High Court may be made within six weeks of the publication of the notice of confirmation.