South Downs becomes national park (From Hampshire Chronicle)

South Downs becomes national park

9:25am Friday 20th November 2009 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

HAMPSHIRE countryside will form part of Britain's newest national park in the South Downs, it's been confirmed.

Environment secretary Hilary Benn has rubber-stamped the 632 sq mile park, which stretches from Winchester across east Hampshire and into Sussex.

It has been more than 60 years since the area was recommended as a national park, and a decade since the Government first announced its intention to designate it as such.

The area was given protected status in March paving the way for yesterday's announcement, which resolves the final boundary disputes. It means the new national park, which is England's ninth, will include the Alice Holt site in east Hampshire.

A new South Downs National Park Authority is expected to be established by April 2010 and become fully operational a year later.

Yesterday's confirmation has been broadly welcomed.

Daryl Henry, Winchester city councillor for the Twyford and Colden Common ward, which includes the park's western boundary, said: "We're lucky in Twyford because it has lots of points of interests and hopefully this will put the area higher on the tourist radar.

"It's been a long time coming and it's great the borders are all settled but I think it's important to recognise that we need to protect all areas of the countryside in the ward."

Owen Plunlkett, chairman of Ramblers in Hampshire, said: "This is the final hurdle in the long battle to protect the South Downs and give it national park status. We are delighted that Alice Holt has also been included.

"We must now try and ensure that the new National Park Authority has the necessary resources and funding to enable it function efficiently."

Robin Crane, chairman of the South Downs Campaign, said: "Today is a fantastic and historic day, the final milestone on the long path to a South Downs National Park. The South Downs will now have the protection and recognition that this landscape so richly deserves."

But the National Farmers' Union (NFU) has opposed the formation of the national park.

Michael Fordham, chairman of NFU's regional board, said: "We have actively encouraged farmers from within the NFU's membership to put themselves forward as members of the South Downs National Park Authority.

"We will be extremely disappointed if, when members of the National Park Authority are announced in February 2010, the secretary of state has failed to ensure that farming and land-owning interests are adequately represented."