I spent most of my childhood in a small town in East Hampshire - part of the Western Weald. It was a beautiful area of woodland and healthland that is easily the equal of the New Forest in beauty - though it lacks the ponies. However it has an interesting wildlife including snakes.  I recall walking or jogging through woods and often there were sandy patches that had a little sunlight. Often you would see adders basking there only to race away once they realised a human was nearby. Even more fascinating was the occasional sighting of the rare smooth snake. The Western Weald is one of the few places in this country where this interesting reptile can be seen; it has the interesting characteristic that it can 'hibernate' for up to 2 years!

 

I was shocked when I read in last Saturday's Independent  an article by Bill Bryson (Notes from a small piece of downland, 15 September 2007) saying that the Western Weald would be excluded from the planned South Downs national park. Apparently the Western Weald is not worthy of National Park quality. According to the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) the inspectors have said that the area does not meet natural beauty criteria. This beggars belief for the following reasons:

a) If it is important to make the South Downs a national park, we need to understand that the South Downs are part of the Wealden anticline. The Western Weald is the most interesting area geologically because chalkland, sandstone hills and wealden clay are in close proximity. We should be looking to protect the Wealden geology including the South Downs but not seeing the South Downs in isolation.
b) The Western Weald area that is now to be excluded includes some of the finest sandstone hills in Southern England. If the inspector feels that only the 'lofty' South Downs merit National Park status he should get out his OS map! 'Mighty' Butser Hill famous for being the highest point in the South Downs at an elevation of 270 metres is not as high as the highest point in the Western Weald. Black Down near Haslemere tops Butser with an elevation of 280 metres.
c) Midhurst and Petworth are beautiful small towns that are probably more worthy of being in a National Park than some of those in the shrunk national park.
d) I challenge anybody to find an area of SE England that is less densely populated and less spoilt than the area within the polygon Haslemere, Liphook, Rake, Petersfield, Midhurst and Petworth.
e) If the New Forest is worthy of national park status then the smaller Woomer Forest with equally interesting landscape and wildlife deserves to be part of the South Downs National Park.

I have written to my MP about this. If you agree with me please do the same. There is also an e-petition at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/western-weald/.