South Downs National Park

blackpatch
blackpatch Posts: 3
edited October 2008 in Campaign
We all ride in areas such as the South Downs of Sussex & East Hampshire. Why not help to give them the ultimate protection of National Park Status. We at the South Downs Society - many of us mountain bike riders, are petitioning Government to bring about this change. All you have to do is sign our online petition at: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/western-weald

We would like to reach 10000 signatures by the end of the year & currently have about half that.

For more information you can visit: http://my.opera.com/blackpatch/blog/

Please people: protecting our environment is everyones duty. We encourage bike riders on the South Downs, so please sign the petition! & please leave your comments.

Comments

  • aurelio_-_banned
    aurelio_-_banned Posts: 1,317
    Yeah right! Create a new National Park, and thereby a new National Park Authority which will have the power to criminalise cycling on all access land within that park, just as the Peak District and Dartmoor NPA`s have done. No thanks!
  • blackpatch
    blackpatch Posts: 3
    I am not aware that could be a possibility as we at the South Downs Campaign want to encourage as many groups of people as possible to use the Downs for recreational purposes - including bike riding. I am almost certain that the rules regarding cycling on the Downs that are in place now will not be changing after National Park status is confered.
  • mark 2
    mark 2 Posts: 2
    Take it from some one who lives in a national park DON'T DO IT !!!!!!
    They are unelected jobsworths they do nothing to actually help the communities in the parks, but they expect the communities to conform to their rules etc.
    I don't know any one around here who has a good word to say about the park, they are restrictive and unhelpful. & they waste vast sums of money on completly worthless projects that do nothing for the communities, Where I live it is being turned into a play ground for visitors at the cost of the locals. BE WARNED it could be the thin edge of he wedge,


    we're all doomed, doomed I say.

    There we are I feel better for that.
  • aurelio_-_banned
    aurelio_-_banned Posts: 1,317
    blackpatch wrote:
    I am not aware that could be a possibility as we at the South Downs Campaign want to encourage as many groups of people as possible to use the Downs for recreational purposes - including bike riding. I am almost certain that the rules regarding cycling on the Downs that are in place now will not be changing after National Park status is confered.
    There are no guarantees that the powers automatically granted to a NPA won`t be abused to the detriment of cyclists, especially given that NPA`s, once set up, tend to be dominated by landowning and walking interests.
  • always_tyred
    always_tyred Posts: 4,965
    I don't think the south downs merit national park status any more than large areas of essentially agricultural land across the UK, to be honest. If places like Skye don't have protected national park status yet, it just doesn't seem to make sense to me. National Parks should be our country's jewels, with their status awarded on the merits of the wildlife and geology.

    Is there not a more realistic "regional park" status you could pitch for? I live near such a region (Pentland Regional Park, nr. Edinburgh) and it appears to function very nicely as a protected recreational area close to a connurbation.

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