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The South Downs
CPRE Sussex supports the 'South Downs Campaign' which is giving evidence to the re-opened South Downs National Park Inquiry. CPRE Hampshire are leading for CPRE, with ur support. The Inquiry is expected to continue taking evidence until April or May 2008 with a final decision from the Secretary of State late in 2008. More details are available here: www.planning-inspecorate.gov.uk/southdowns/inquiry/inquiry_programme.htm
We urged residents to respond to the consultation to ensure the government hears loud and clear that the revised boundary, if approved, will seal the fate of large tracts of our beautiful Sussex countryside. Without the protected status of a National Park, areas such as the western Weald and Ditchling are sure to be subjected to death by a thousand cuts through piecemeal development and encroachment. Once we have lost our countryside under concrete it cannot be replaced
The South Downs extend from Winchester in Hampshire and across the breadth of Sussex reaching the coast at Eastbourne . The characteristic chalk ridge dominates much of Sussex , however the scarp slopes with their heathland landscape to the north also play an important role in the familiar Downland landscapes. The Downs and their environs form extensive areas of natural beauty, combining a wide range of landscape characteristics of national importance.
Protected as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) an estimated 32 million people visit the Downs annually for informal countryside recreation. Walking, horse riding and cycling are just some of the many ways in which residents and visitors alike enjoy this unique area.
Close to large areas of conurbation within the South East (ie the Coastal Plain, London and its suburbs) it forms an essential and well used recreational lung which it is essential to maintain in such a heavily populated region.
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