Western Weald
Encyclopedia
The western Weald is an area of undulating countryside in Hampshire
and West Sussex
containing a mixture of woodland and heathland areas.
It lies to the south of the towns of Bordon
, Haslemere
and Rake
and to the west of the town of Pulborough
. It includes the towns of Liss
and Petersfield
on its western boundary and the towns of Midhurst
and Petworth
to the south. Natural features include Blackdown
, the highest point in Sussex, and Woolmer Forest
in Hampshire. The chalk escarpment of the South Downs
forms a prominent boundary to the south and west.
The western Weald forms part of the larger Weald
. Geologically it consists of a mixture of sandstone and clay strata which have been exposed by the erosion of the Weald-Artois Anticline
. The resulting soils include acid heathland
and poorly draining clay soil which support deciduous, particularly oak, woodlands interspersed with small irregularly shaped fields, with many surviving medieval boundaries.
The western Weald came to prominence as the result of a protracted and sometimes heated dispute about whether or not the area should be included in the South Downs National Park
. The original public inquiry into the proposal to create the national park concluded that it should be excluded, in large part because of its different geology from the chalky South Downs. However, following a second inquiry the government decided that the whole of the western Weald should be included, a decision which took effect when the new national park formally came into existence on 31 March 2010.
in Surrey. It is funded by a partnership of 15 organisations including environmental bodies and local authorities. The project seeks to conserve and enhance the special natural environment of the area, which it considers to be internationally important for the following reasons: it is one of the most wooded landscapes in Britain; it is a rare example of a more natural forest ecosystem; it is home to rare wildlife species; it has a historic living landscape dating back to before medieval times; and it is an island of tranquillity in south-east England. The project has four objectives:
, and the hills of the Greensand Ridge
.
The Low Weald has an undulating, well-wooded character. A patchwork of farmland, woodland and commons, with many hedgerows, form a landscape which has changed little since the Middle Ages. Almost one third of the area is woodland, and two thirds of that is ancient, including old growth forest at The Mens and wood-pasture at Ebernoe Common
. The area has many man-made lakes and ponds, often created to power the Wealden iron industry
or for water mills, although others were created for sporting purposes. The western Weald has been described as a rare example of a part-functioning forest ecosystem.
of the Wealden Series of the Lower Cretaceous, including in a few places Paludina limestones, used as a building stone. To the west there are extensive hills and ridges formed of Lower Greensand, including Blackdown, the highest point in Sussex. There are patches of drift overlying the clay and some river terrace gravels and alluvium in the river valleys. Beyond the Weald Clay a generally narrow band of Gault Clay
outcrops to form the boundary between the Weald and the chalk downlands. At Alice Holt Forest
, north of Woolmer Forest, a wide outcrop of this blue clay was exploited on an industrial scale for pottery production during the Roman era.
Six soil condition types have been identified by the National Soils Map, the most widespread being slowly permeable, seasonally wet, slightly acid but base-rich, loamy and clayey soils which have moderate natural fertility and impeded drainage. Where groundwater levels are high, a wet low fertility variant of the first type occurs. Very acid, free-draining soils with very low natural fertility occur over the Lower Greensand. Freely draining, slightly acid loamy soils are found along the Rother valley where they are used for intensive arable farming and vegetable growing. Freely draining, slightly acid sandy soils are found at Cowdray Park
and around Hambledon
. Wet loamy and clayey floodplain soils of moderate natural fertility are found along the River Arun, where they provide summer grazing for cattle.
and its tributaries, notably the River Lod
, and by the River Kird and Loxwood Stream, all of which are tributaries of the River Arun
. Water quality is above average for south eastern England, with chemical water quality variable but biological quality good to exceptional in all of the rivers, according to the Environment Agency. Silt from intensive
arable farming on silty erosion prone soils on the greensand is a problem in the Western Rother. The Environment Agency is working with farmers to control run off from fields, by using reduced cultivations with less ploughing, having grass margins at the foot of slopes and moving gateways away from the foot of slopes. Flow rates, which are measured for the River Lod and Loxwood Stream, vary greatly with rainfall on the impermeable clay, with a tendency to flash flooding, and this has increased over the last thirty years.
South east England has the most light polluted skies in Britain, especially in Greater London, with only about 1% truly dark sky. The Western Weald has some of the darkest skies in the region, with 3% of West Sussex being in the darkest category and 11% in the next darkest in 2000, all of it in the western weald. Between 1993 and 2000 the overall situation deteriorated but the darkest areas actually increased in parts of the western weald. As well as obscuring the starry sky light pollution is claimed to detrimentally affect foraging behaviour of bats, frogs and moths, the migration of birds and singing by song birds.
Ebernoe Common is a National Nature Reserve
and Site of Special Scientific Interest
,. Managed by the Sussex Wildlife Trust, it includes ancient woodland, glades and ponds, and supports a diversity of plants and animals, including 14 out of 16 species of bat which occur in the UK, including the rare Bechstein's and Barbastelle bats. Adjoining farmland has been purchased with a grant from Restore UK which will be allowed to revert to pasture woodland over a long period with managed grazing by cattle. The Barbastelle bats need old dying trees with loose bark for their roosts and travel great distances along traditional flight lines to feed over damp meadows, which may be as much as 20 kilometres from the roost, in the Arun and Rother valleys. Local landowners are being encouraged to maintain and enhance continuous tree cover along these routes so that the bats can travel out on summer evenings, avoiding predation by sparrow hawks.
long distance path between Petersfield and Haslemere is designed to pass through most of the heathlands in the area, passing from Haslemere west to Rake, West Sussex
then east to Fittleworth, north of the River Rother, and then westwards again, south of the river, to Petersfield. The A272 road
is the only major road across the Western Weald, and is nearly all single carriageway, while the A283 and A286 roads provide north-south access. Local roads tend to be narrow and winding.
This conclusion was disputed by a number of organisations, including Natural England
, the Ramblers' Association, Sussex Wildlife Trust
and the Campaign for National Parks who pointed to the diverse geology of existing national parks
such as the Lake District
and Peak District
. The Campaign to Protect Rural England, which had been campaigning for a South Downs national park since 1929, vigorously supported inclusion of the western Weald. Its president, Bill Bryson
, claimed that failure to include the area would be a "national tragedy".
Critics of the decision countered that there had been only limited new housing, and the area had been an AONB for forty years, showing that it did not need the greater protection of being in a national park. After much public outcry and petitioning of government it was decided to re-open the public inquiry to take new submissions regarding the western Weald and a number of other disputed areas; the inquiry re-opened on 12 February 2008 and closed on 4 July 2008 after 27 sitting days. On 31 March 2009 the result of the inquiry was published. The government announced that the South Downs would be designated a national park, and that the western Weald would be included within it.
Until the creation of the national park, the western Weald had been protected by two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty
, the East Hampshire AONB
and the Sussex Downs AONB
, both administered by the South Downs Joint Committee; these areas remained in existence until 31 March 2010, when the South Downs National Park
formally came into being.
, which had consistently opposed the creation of any national park for the South Downs, sought at least to restrict the park boundary to the chalk escarpment of the South Downs, arguing that existing AONB designations gave the western Weald an equal level of protection. The leader of the council told the re-opened South Downs National Park inquiry that "there continues to be no support for inclusion of the Wealden area in the South Downs National Park", though this claim came only two weeks after a meeting with a number of parish and town councils from that area who had expressed strong support for its inclusion in the national park. Chichester District Council also expressed opposition to the creation of the national park, which was to cover two-thirds of its area, and to the inclusion of the western Weald. By contrast, Hampshire County Council
and East Hampshire District Council, together with all the parish councils in the Hampshire part of the western Weald, took a positive view of the proposed park and welcomed the public enquiry inspector's decision in favour.
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
and West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
containing a mixture of woodland and heathland areas.
It lies to the south of the towns of Bordon
Bordon
Bordon is a town in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It lies 5.4 miles southeast of Alton and forms a part of the civil parish of Whitehill, the adjoining village. Both settlements are on the A325 road and close to the A3 road between London and Portsmouth...
, Haslemere
Haslemere
Haslemere is a town in Surrey, England, close to the border with both Hampshire and West Sussex. The major road between London and Portsmouth, the A3, lies to the west, and a branch of the River Wey to the south. Haslemere is approximately south-west of Guildford.Haslemere is surrounded by hills,...
and Rake
Rake, West Sussex
Rake is a linear village in the English county of West Sussex.Historically its importance rose from it being on the main London-Portsmouth road but it has been bypassed for several years. Administratively Rake forms part of the civil parish of Rogate; in turn Rogate forms part of the district of...
and to the west of the town of Pulborough
Pulborough
Pulborough is a large village and civil parish in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England, with some 5,000 inhabitants. It is located almost centrally within West Sussex and is south west of London. It is at the junction of the north-south A29 and the east-west roads.The village is near the...
. It includes the towns of Liss
Liss
Liss is a village and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is 3.3 miles northeast of Petersfield, on the A3 road, on the Hampshire/West Sussex border....
and Petersfield
Petersfield, Hampshire
Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is north of Portsmouth, on the A3 road. The town has its own railway station on the Portsmouth Direct Line, the mainline rail link connecting Portsmouth and London. The town is situated on the...
on its western boundary and the towns of Midhurst
Midhurst
Midhurst is a market town and civil parish in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England, with a population of 4,889 in 2001. The town is situated on the River Rother and is home to the ruin of the Tudor Cowdray House and the stately Victorian Cowdray Park...
and Petworth
Petworth
Petworth is a small town and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the junction of the A272 east-west road from Heathfield to Winchester and the A283 Milford to Shoreham-by-Sea road. Some twelve miles to the south west of Petworth along the A285 road...
to the south. Natural features include Blackdown
Blackdown, Sussex
Blackdown, or Black Down, is the highest hill in the historic county of Sussex, at 280 metres , and is second only to Leith Hill in southeastern England....
, the highest point in Sussex, and Woolmer Forest
Woolmer Forest
Woolmer Forest is a former medieval royal hunting forest. It lies within the western Weald in the South Downs National Park, straddling the border between east Hampshire and West Sussex. Covering an area of some , it is both a Special Area of Conservation and a Site of Special Scientific Interest...
in Hampshire. The chalk escarpment of the South Downs
South Downs
The South Downs is a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen Valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, East Sussex, in the east. It is bounded on its northern side by a steep escarpment, from whose...
forms a prominent boundary to the south and west.
The western Weald forms part of the larger Weald
Weald
The Weald is the name given to an area in South East England situated between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It should be regarded as three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the centre; the clay "Low Weald" periphery; and the Greensand Ridge which...
. Geologically it consists of a mixture of sandstone and clay strata which have been exposed by the erosion of the Weald-Artois Anticline
Weald-Artois Anticline
The Weald–Artois anticline is a large anticline, a geological structure running between the regions of the Weald in southern England and the Artois in northeastern France. The fold formed during the Alpine orogeny, from the late Oligocene to middle Miocene as an uplifted form of the Weald basin...
. The resulting soils include acid heathland
Heath (habitat)
A heath or heathland is a dwarf-shrub habitat found on mainly low quality acidic soils, characterised by open, low growing woody vegetation, often dominated by plants of the Ericaceae. There are some clear differences between heath and moorland...
and poorly draining clay soil which support deciduous, particularly oak, woodlands interspersed with small irregularly shaped fields, with many surviving medieval boundaries.
The western Weald came to prominence as the result of a protracted and sometimes heated dispute about whether or not the area should be included in the South Downs National Park
South Downs National Park
The South Downs National Park is England's newest National Park, having become fully operational on 1 April 2011. The park, covering an area of in southern England, stretches for from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in the east through the counties of Hampshire, West Sussex and East Sussex...
. The original public inquiry into the proposal to create the national park concluded that it should be excluded, in large part because of its different geology from the chalky South Downs. However, following a second inquiry the government decided that the whole of the western Weald should be included, a decision which took effect when the new national park formally came into existence on 31 March 2010.
West Weald Landscape Project
The West Weald Landscape Project refers to itself as "a visionary partnership project that promotes the integrated management of a viable and enhanced landscape in the West Weald for people and nature." The project covers an area of 240 square kilometres (92.7 sq mi) north of Petworth in the Chichester District of West Sussex and the borough of WaverleyWaverley, Surrey
Waverley is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. The borough's headquarters are in the town of Godalming, with Farnham and Haslemere being the other large notable towns....
in Surrey. It is funded by a partnership of 15 organisations including environmental bodies and local authorities. The project seeks to conserve and enhance the special natural environment of the area, which it considers to be internationally important for the following reasons: it is one of the most wooded landscapes in Britain; it is a rare example of a more natural forest ecosystem; it is home to rare wildlife species; it has a historic living landscape dating back to before medieval times; and it is an island of tranquillity in south-east England. The project has four objectives:
- enhanced conservation of four core forest areas: EbernoeEbernoeEbernoe is a hamlet and civil parish in the District of Chichester in West Sussex, England located six kilometres north of Petworth near the A283 road.The parish has a land area of 1239 hectares...
, The Mens, Chiddingfold ForestChiddingfold ForestChiddingfold Forest is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in south west Surrey and west Sussex, England. It lies near Chiddingfold and Dunsfold. The Forestry Commission owns and/or manages some of woodland in the forest complex of which is designated SSSI...
, and the Greensand Woods; - improved connections and sympathetic land management across the whole landscape;
- informed conservation from applied research, surveys and monitoring;
- increased enjoyment, understanding and involvement of the public.
Landscape character
The western Weald comprises the Low Weald, a vale of Weald ClayWeald Clay
Weald Clay is a Lower Cretaceous sedimentary rock underlying areas of South East England. It is part of the Wealden Group of rocks. The clay is named after the Weald, an area of Sussex. It varies from orange and grey in colour and is used in brickmaking....
, and the hills of the Greensand Ridge
Greensand Ridge
The Greensand Ridge is an extensive, prominent, often heavily wooded, sandstone escarpment and range of hills in south-east England. It runs in a horseshoe shape around the Weald of Surrey, Sussex and Kent. It reaches its highest elevation, , at Leith Hill in Surrey—the second highest point...
.
The Low Weald has an undulating, well-wooded character. A patchwork of farmland, woodland and commons, with many hedgerows, form a landscape which has changed little since the Middle Ages. Almost one third of the area is woodland, and two thirds of that is ancient, including old growth forest at The Mens and wood-pasture at Ebernoe Common
Ebernoe
Ebernoe is a hamlet and civil parish in the District of Chichester in West Sussex, England located six kilometres north of Petworth near the A283 road.The parish has a land area of 1239 hectares...
. The area has many man-made lakes and ponds, often created to power the Wealden iron industry
Wealden iron industry
The Wealden iron industry was located in the Weald of south-eastern England. It was formerly an important industry, producing a large proportion of the bar iron made in England in the 16th century and most British cannon until about 1770. Ironmaking in the Weald used ironstone from various clay...
or for water mills, although others were created for sporting purposes. The western Weald has been described as a rare example of a part-functioning forest ecosystem.
Geology and soils
The predominant geology underlying the western Weald is the Weald ClayWeald Clay
Weald Clay is a Lower Cretaceous sedimentary rock underlying areas of South East England. It is part of the Wealden Group of rocks. The clay is named after the Weald, an area of Sussex. It varies from orange and grey in colour and is used in brickmaking....
of the Wealden Series of the Lower Cretaceous, including in a few places Paludina limestones, used as a building stone. To the west there are extensive hills and ridges formed of Lower Greensand, including Blackdown, the highest point in Sussex. There are patches of drift overlying the clay and some river terrace gravels and alluvium in the river valleys. Beyond the Weald Clay a generally narrow band of Gault Clay
Gault Clay
Gault is a clay formation of stiff blue clay deposited in a calm, fairly deep water marine environment during the Lower Cretaceous Period...
outcrops to form the boundary between the Weald and the chalk downlands. At Alice Holt Forest
Alice Holt Forest
Alice Holt Forest is a former royal forest in Hampshire, situated some south of Farnham, Surrey. Once predominantly an ancient oak forest, it was particularly noted in the 18th and 19th centuries for the timber it supplied for the building of ships for the Royal Navy. It is now planted mainly with...
, north of Woolmer Forest, a wide outcrop of this blue clay was exploited on an industrial scale for pottery production during the Roman era.
Six soil condition types have been identified by the National Soils Map, the most widespread being slowly permeable, seasonally wet, slightly acid but base-rich, loamy and clayey soils which have moderate natural fertility and impeded drainage. Where groundwater levels are high, a wet low fertility variant of the first type occurs. Very acid, free-draining soils with very low natural fertility occur over the Lower Greensand. Freely draining, slightly acid loamy soils are found along the Rother valley where they are used for intensive arable farming and vegetable growing. Freely draining, slightly acid sandy soils are found at Cowdray Park
Cowdray Park
Cowdray Park refers to*Cowdray Park, Gauteng, a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa*Cowdray Park, West Sussex, a country house and polo park in England...
and around Hambledon
Hambledon, Surrey
Hambledon is a small and scattered village in Surrey, south of Guildford. It is tucked away amongst fields and woodland between Witley and Chiddingfold....
. Wet loamy and clayey floodplain soils of moderate natural fertility are found along the River Arun, where they provide summer grazing for cattle.
Water quality
The western Weald is drained by the Western RotherRiver Rother (Western)
The River Rother is a river which flows for thirty miles from Empshott in Hampshire to Stopham in West Sussex, where it joins the River Arun. It should not be confused with the River Rother, in East Sussex....
and its tributaries, notably the River Lod
River Lod, West Sussex
The River Lod is a short river draining about of north west Sussex. The source is on Marley Heights near Haslemere, about 140 metres above sea level. From here it flows west past Linchmere, then south to Furnace Pond, where iron cannon were cast during the English Civil War...
, and by the River Kird and Loxwood Stream, all of which are tributaries of the River Arun
River Arun
The Arun is a river in the English county of West Sussex. Its source is a series of small streams in the St Leonard's Forest area, to the east of Horsham...
. Water quality is above average for south eastern England, with chemical water quality variable but biological quality good to exceptional in all of the rivers, according to the Environment Agency. Silt from intensive
arable farming on silty erosion prone soils on the greensand is a problem in the Western Rother. The Environment Agency is working with farmers to control run off from fields, by using reduced cultivations with less ploughing, having grass margins at the foot of slopes and moving gateways away from the foot of slopes. Flow rates, which are measured for the River Lod and Loxwood Stream, vary greatly with rainfall on the impermeable clay, with a tendency to flash flooding, and this has increased over the last thirty years.
Air quality
The low population density of the western Weald leads to gaseous pollution levels from fossil fuels being around half those of surrounding districts. Methane coming from ruminant animals and nitrous oxide from soils mean there is less difference regarding these gases.Noise and light pollution
Low population density for south east England and the absence of trunk roads contribute to low noise levels in the areaSouth east England has the most light polluted skies in Britain, especially in Greater London, with only about 1% truly dark sky. The Western Weald has some of the darkest skies in the region, with 3% of West Sussex being in the darkest category and 11% in the next darkest in 2000, all of it in the western weald. Between 1993 and 2000 the overall situation deteriorated but the darkest areas actually increased in parts of the western weald. As well as obscuring the starry sky light pollution is claimed to detrimentally affect foraging behaviour of bats, frogs and moths, the migration of birds and singing by song birds.
Biodiversity
The range of habitats, broken topography and small field sizes in the Western Weald support a wide range of species.The large fragments of ancient woodland, heathlands and wet meadows are of special conservation value. Buzzards have been breeding in the area for a number of years, but red kites have not yet colonised the area. At least 4,400 species have been recorded, including many priority species for conservation, including 95 listed under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.Ebernoe Common is a National Nature Reserve
National Nature Reserve
For details of National nature reserves in the United Kingdom see:*National Nature Reserves in England*National Nature Reserves in Northern Ireland*National Nature Reserves in Scotland*National Nature Reserves in Wales...
and Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
,. Managed by the Sussex Wildlife Trust, it includes ancient woodland, glades and ponds, and supports a diversity of plants and animals, including 14 out of 16 species of bat which occur in the UK, including the rare Bechstein's and Barbastelle bats. Adjoining farmland has been purchased with a grant from Restore UK which will be allowed to revert to pasture woodland over a long period with managed grazing by cattle. The Barbastelle bats need old dying trees with loose bark for their roosts and travel great distances along traditional flight lines to feed over damp meadows, which may be as much as 20 kilometres from the roost, in the Arun and Rother valleys. Local landowners are being encouraged to maintain and enhance continuous tree cover along these routes so that the bats can travel out on summer evenings, avoiding predation by sparrow hawks.
Public access
There are substantial areas of open access land on commons across the area and extensive footpath and bridleway networks. The Serpent TrailThe Serpent Trail
The Serpent Trail is a 64 mile long distance footpath. It runs from Haslemere to Petersfield by a circuitous route and is designed to join up the many heathland areas on greensand in the western Weald...
long distance path between Petersfield and Haslemere is designed to pass through most of the heathlands in the area, passing from Haslemere west to Rake, West Sussex
Rake, West Sussex
Rake is a linear village in the English county of West Sussex.Historically its importance rose from it being on the main London-Portsmouth road but it has been bypassed for several years. Administratively Rake forms part of the civil parish of Rogate; in turn Rogate forms part of the district of...
then east to Fittleworth, north of the River Rother, and then westwards again, south of the river, to Petersfield. The A272 road
A272 road
The A272 is a road in South-East England. It follows an approximate East-West route from near Heathfield, East Sussex to the city of Winchester, Hampshire. It has achieved somewhat unlikely fame in recent years by being the subject of a book by the Dutch author, Pieter Boogaart...
is the only major road across the Western Weald, and is nearly all single carriageway, while the A283 and A286 roads provide north-south access. Local roads tend to be narrow and winding.
South Downs National Park
The inclusion of the western Weald in the South Downs National Park was a matter of great controversy. The report on the original public inquiry into the creation of the national park, which was published on 31 March 2006, concluded that its boundaries should be confined to the chalk downs, and thus exclude the wealden area of East Hampshire and the Chichester District of West Sussex. The inspector claimed new housing developments and intensive agriculture had degraded the Rother Valley so that it was unsuitable to be included. Seasonal use of plastic film on intensive vegetable crops along the fertile valley has a strong visual impact.This conclusion was disputed by a number of organisations, including Natural England
Natural England
Natural England is the non-departmental public body of the UK government responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, freshwater and marine environments, geology and soils, are protected and improved...
, the Ramblers' Association, Sussex Wildlife Trust
Sussex Wildlife Trust
The Sussex Wildlife Trust is a wildlife trust and a registered charity covering the counties of East Sussex and West Sussex, England. The trust's Chief Executive is Tony Whitbread....
and the Campaign for National Parks who pointed to the diverse geology of existing national parks
National parks of England and Wales
The national parks of England and Wales are areas of relatively undeveloped and scenic landscape that are designated under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949...
such as the Lake District
Lake District National Park
The Lake District National Park is located in the north-west of England and is the largest of the English National Parks and the second largest in the United Kingdom. It is in the central and most-visited part of the Lake District....
and Peak District
Peak District
The Peak District is an upland area in central and northern England, lying mainly in northern Derbyshire, but also covering parts of Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, and South and West Yorkshire....
. The Campaign to Protect Rural England, which had been campaigning for a South Downs national park since 1929, vigorously supported inclusion of the western Weald. Its president, Bill Bryson
Bill Bryson
William McGuire "Bill" Bryson, OBE, is a best-selling American author of humorous books on travel, as well as books on the English language and on science. Born an American, he was a resident of Britain for most of his adult life before moving back to the US in 1995...
, claimed that failure to include the area would be a "national tragedy".
Critics of the decision countered that there had been only limited new housing, and the area had been an AONB for forty years, showing that it did not need the greater protection of being in a national park. After much public outcry and petitioning of government it was decided to re-open the public inquiry to take new submissions regarding the western Weald and a number of other disputed areas; the inquiry re-opened on 12 February 2008 and closed on 4 July 2008 after 27 sitting days. On 31 March 2009 the result of the inquiry was published. The government announced that the South Downs would be designated a national park, and that the western Weald would be included within it.
Until the creation of the national park, the western Weald had been protected by two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an area of countryside considered to have significant landscape value in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, that has been specially designated by the Countryside Agency on behalf of the United Kingdom government; the Countryside Council for Wales on...
, the East Hampshire AONB
East Hampshire AONB
East Hampshire Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England was designated in 1962. The designation was revoked in March 2010, together with the neighbouring Sussex Downs AONB, upon the establishment of the South Downs National Park. The southern part of the area is mainly rolling chalk...
and the Sussex Downs AONB
Sussex Downs AONB
Sussex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England was designated in 1966. The designation was revoked in March 2010, together with the neighbouring East Hampshire AONB, upon the establishment of the South Downs National Park ....
, both administered by the South Downs Joint Committee; these areas remained in existence until 31 March 2010, when the South Downs National Park
South Downs National Park
The South Downs National Park is England's newest National Park, having become fully operational on 1 April 2011. The park, covering an area of in southern England, stretches for from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in the east through the counties of Hampshire, West Sussex and East Sussex...
formally came into being.
Local authority positions
West Sussex County CouncilWest Sussex County Council
West Sussex County Council is the authority that governs the non-metropolitan county of West Sussex. The county also contains 7 district and borough councils, and 159 town, parish and neighbourhood councils. The county council has 71 elected councillors...
, which had consistently opposed the creation of any national park for the South Downs, sought at least to restrict the park boundary to the chalk escarpment of the South Downs, arguing that existing AONB designations gave the western Weald an equal level of protection. The leader of the council told the re-opened South Downs National Park inquiry that "there continues to be no support for inclusion of the Wealden area in the South Downs National Park", though this claim came only two weeks after a meeting with a number of parish and town councils from that area who had expressed strong support for its inclusion in the national park. Chichester District Council also expressed opposition to the creation of the national park, which was to cover two-thirds of its area, and to the inclusion of the western Weald. By contrast, Hampshire County Council
Hampshire County Council
Hampshire County Council is the county council that governs the majority of the county of Hampshire in England. It provides the upper tier of local government, below which are district councils, and town and parish councils...
and East Hampshire District Council, together with all the parish councils in the Hampshire part of the western Weald, took a positive view of the proposed park and welcomed the public enquiry inspector's decision in favour.