page_title: Western Weald
section_title: South Downs National Park
hierarchical_section_title: Western Weald / South Downs National Park
caption_attribution_description: English: My own workMidhurst, West Sussex, England.
context_page_description: 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.
context_section_description: 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, 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.
caption: The historic market town of Midhurst, now to be included in the national park.
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