A group of approximately 40 organisations have submitted a bid to turn a large part of Sussex into a biosphere reserve. The Brighton & Hove and Lewes Downs Biosphere Partnership, which is backed by the University of Sussex, is asking Unesco to award special status to an area the size of the Isle of Wight. .. Unesco is expected to make its decision on the bid in July 2014.
It seems that the Campaign to Protect Rural England does not share Nick Herbert’s benign interpretation of what the minister said. The West Sussex County Times reports:
A ‘huge solar farm’ could be built in the South Downs if national parks were made to promote economic growth, warned the Sussex-Horsham district chair of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).
The chair, Dr Roger Smith, said: “Even under the present regulations, the South Downs is subject to the threat of a huge solar farm development.
“This is the kind of development that could be pushed through if National Parks were given a duty to promote economic growth.”
Nick Herbert has told the West Sussex County Times :
We are not going to see house building all over the South Downs National Park, and the Minister [Nick Boles] did not say that there should be a relaxation of planning controls in parks, as press reports implied. He said that the parks should not become museums, and I agree with him about that.
I also agree with what the minister said about the need to express localism more fully in parks. I have always warned about the democratic deficit in national parks, which was reflected in the controversy over the South Downs National Park’s decision over to allow a travellers site at Crossbush.
It was the backbench MP who moved the debate [Simon Hart] who suggested that the duty to conserve parks should no longer be given primacy over the duty to secure economic well-being. The minister did not endorse this view, and it is not Government policy.
The cost of creating the SDNPA’s South Downs Centre in Midhurst has increased by 39% (from £2.8m to £3.9m) over the last year.
Trevor Beattie admitted the wrong tiles had been used on the roof. .. He said: “The tiles used on the roof of Capron House were not those specified in the planning consent. We have therefore asked that the tiles are replaced with those we initially specified, as soon as possible, at no additional cost to the SDNPA and no delay to the project.”
