A new National Park in the South Downs has finally got the go-ahead more than 60 years after the area was first earmarked for protected status.
The decision by the Government to create the 627 square-mile National Park in Sussex and Hampshire was welcomed by countryside and environmental groups, who said the area was the "green lung" of the South East.
The boundaries of the new park stretch from Winchester to Eastbourne and include Lewes, the village of Ditchling and the Western Weald.
These areas were within the original park boundaries drawn up in 2002, but their inclusion was contested, leading to legal wrangling and a protracted public inquiry whose costs may have run into the millions.
Now, a decade after the Government originally announced its intention to designate a National Park to protect the area's rolling chalk uplands, river valleys and wooded greens, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn confirmed the South Downs would get the green light.
Mr Benn said the park would boost the economy, attract new visitors, businesses and investment and ensure the "wonderful countryside" of the South Downs would be protected forever for the enjoyment of everyone.
But the Tories criticised the move, claiming the transfer of planning decisions from local councils to a new National Park Authority (NPA) was a step in the wrong direction and, according to Eastbourne MP Nigel Waterson, "profoundly undemocratic".
Mr Benn insisted that planning decisions in the new National Park, which is home to 120,000 people, would be left - where possible - to local authorities. He said: "I recognise this is a big national park in terms of population, and that's why I will be encouraging the National Park Authority, where possible, to leave planning decisions with the local authorities, as long as they are consistent with protecting and preserving this extraordinary landscape."
The new South Downs National Park Authority is set to be established by 2010 and become fully operational a year later.
Its set-up costs will be met by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), and the park will receive comparable funding to the existing National Parks which will each receive between £3.4 million and £8.5 million this coming year.
