Western Weald

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.

The project covers an area of 240 square kilometres (93 sq mi) north of Petworth in the Chichester District of West Sussex and the borough of Waverley in Surrey.

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.

Freely draining, slightly acid loamy soils are found along the Rother valley where they are used for intensive arable farming and vegetable growing.

Wet loamy and clayey floodplain soils of moderate natural fertility are found along the River Arun, where they provide summer grazing for cattle.

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.

[3][7] The low population density of the western Weald leads to gaseous pollution levels from fossil fuels being around half those of surrounding districts.

Adjoining farmland has been purchased with a grant from Restore UK[10] which will be allowed to revert to pasture woodland over a long period with managed grazing by cattle.

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.

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.

[11][12] 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.

[16] 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.