Don't Water Down the National Park
Longstanding amenity group, the South Downs Society, has today (13 August 2007) called on the Government to go along with its own environmental advisors in setting up a South Downs National Park with wide boundaries.
A major public inquiry held between 2003 and 2005 heard evidence for and against the National Park and the report from the Inquiry Inspector has at last been made public. But, while the Inspector has come out firmly in favour of setting up the Park, he has recommended leaving out some attractive small towns and villages and a large area in West Sussex and Hampshire which lies north of the familiar chalk ridge.
“It’s great news that we now look almost certain to get the National Park” says South Downs Society Director, Jacquetta Fewster, “but it’s devastating that, after all the hard work by the Society, the South Downs Campaign and others, a big piece of the land identified for the Park by the Government’s own Countryside Agency could now be left without the proper planning protection and management that the National Park would bring. People living in and around places like Midhurst and Petworth, Petersfield and Liss will be most concerned about being left out of the Park but anyone with a love of the Downs will have reasons to be worried. We will be doing all we can to stop the Park being watered down”.
Ministers are asking for comments on the Inspector’s Report and the Society has today drawn attention to discrepancies in the Report and some of its conclusions. They will be submitting a dossier of detailed evidence in support of putting the missing land back into the Park and demanding that the public inquiry be reopened if there is any possibility of the Park being reduced in size.
The Society is calling on everyone who shares its concerns for the Park to respond vigorously to the consultation, to contact their MP and to sign the on-line petition at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/western-weald.
Notes
* The current consultation by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) runs until 24 September. Defra’s website gives full details at www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/issues/landscap/natparks/sdowns/index.htm. Comments by 24 September to :
Defra
Sponsorship, Landscape and Recreation
(National Parks)
Zone 1/03 Temple Quay House
2 The Square
Temple Quay
BRISTOL BS1 6EB
Or by fax to : 0117 372 8250
Or by email to : natparksouthdowns@defra.gsi.gov.uk