The South Downs area has been given national park status almost 60 years to the day since it was recommended.

Environment Minister Hilary Benn has announced that the South Downs, which cover parts of Sussex and Hampshire, will become England's ninth National Park. Following an extensive public enquiry, it was decided that the South Downs met the designation criteria under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949, a decision that comes more than 60 years after the area was first recommended for Park status.

The new Park will cover 627 square miles of woodland, rolling chalk uplands and river valleys and is home to around 120,000 people. Disputed areas including the Western Weald, Lewes and the village of Ditchling will be included within the Park's boundary.

A new South Downs National Park Authority is expected to be established by April 2010 and become fully operational a year later. The decision makes the South Downs England's ninth National Park, bringing the total of areas protected as National Parks to 10, including the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads, which have equivalent status.
 

Read the full Defra press release.

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