National Parks are created or designated under the 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act. Designation of a National Park is the responsibility of the Countryside Agency.

A National Park is an area of England and Wales that, in the Agency's view, has natural beauty and opportunities for open-air recreation.

When considering an area for National Park status, the Countryside Agency must consider both the area's character and its position in relation to centres of population. It must also consult local interests about boundary and other issues before preparing a Designation Order, which is then submitted to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions.

The Secretary of State considers any objections to the Designation Order and can call a public inquiry before deciding whether to confirm the Order, with or without modifications. A key issue in a Designation Order are the boundary proposals.

National Park Authority

A National Park Authority is the body created to manage the Park.

The Authority has a duty to conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the Park. It must also promote opportunities for the understanding and enjoyment of the special qualities of the area by the public.

The Authority must also seek to foster the economic and social well being of local communities within the Park, but without incurring significant expenditure in doing so.

To do this it has to co-operate with local authorities and the public bodies whose responsibilities include promotion of the economic or social development within the National Park.

The Authority must attach greater weight to conserving and enhancing the natural beauty, the wildlife and the cultural heritage of the National Park if it appears that there is any conflict.

Functions of the National Park Authority
The National Park Authority must prepare a National Park Plan that shows in detail how it will manage the Park and how it will carry out its various responsibilities.

The Authority, which must appoint a National Park Officer, has the power to do anything that, in its opinion, helps achieve its responsibilities. Composition of a National Park Authority

Membership of the National Park
Authority is drawn mainly from local interests.

Local authorities appoint 50% plus one of the members. The Secretary of State appoints the rest. 50% minus one of which are local and represent the parish interests. The remainder come from relevant interest groups.

So, on a typical National Park Authority of 26 members, 14 are local authority appointees, 5 represent parish interests and 7 are appointed by the Secretary of State to represent the national interest.

Planning
The National Park Authority is the sole planning authority for the area. This includes structure and local plans, minerals and waste planning, listed and historic buildings and development control.

The National Park Authority produces the structure and local plans unless the Secretary of State instructs the Authority to produce a unitary plan.

The Secretary of State can create a joint structure plan covering the Park and one or more county council areas. This plan would be prepared on a joint basis and would cover the combined area of the authorities.

The Secretary of State can also create joint arrangements for preparation of the local plan.

National Park Authorities can choose to delegate functions, including planning, to local authorities or a committee of local authorities.

Other links:

The Council for National Parks

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)

• The Hobhouse report of 1947 recommended that the South Downs were worthy of National Park status. The National Parks Commission rejected this in 1957 because " the recreational value of the South Downs as a potential National Park had been considerably reduced by extensive cultivation."
  
• A study by the Countryside Commission (predecessor to the Countryside Agency) concluded in 1998 that the best long-term arrangement for the South Downs be as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The traditional criteria placed emphasis on selecting areas of open country with a degree of ruggedness or wildness.
• The Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) announced in September 1999 that it was asking the Countryside Agency to: "…consider designating a New Forest National Park and, in consultation with local authorities, a National Park in the South Downs."
• The DETR asked the Agency to look at its predecessor's interpretation of the criteria for the South Downs to be designated a National Park.
• The Countryside Agency welcomed the 1999 announcement of the government's intention to "secure better management and conservation in England's finest countryside."

• The public inquiry into the South Downs National Park ended on 16 December 2004, having sat for 90 inquiry days. Over 5,800 representations were made of which 2,220
  expressed an opinion on the principle of a South Downs National Park. Of those, 96% (2,029) were in support and only 131 (6%) were opposed.

• End of 2005 - It is expected that the Secretary of State's decision will be
  announced. If the National Park designation is confirmed, a shadow National Park Authority under an interim Chief
  Executive would be set up by the Minister.

• For the latest information about the National Park Public
  Inquiry see the Planning Inspectorate's website
  http://www.planning-inspectorate.gov.uk/southdowns/index.htm or the
  Countryside Agency's website http://www.countryside.gov.uk

FAQs
1. What difference will a National Park make?
The establishment of a National Park is expected to bring in more funding, while the associated Park Authority will have stronger planning powers and the ability to act in a strategic way. The Countryside Agnecys hopes that the NPA will enable some of the real challenges and threats facing the Downs to be tackled effectively and with the most efficient use of resources.

2. How much funding will a National Park Authority get?
The main source of finance for National Parks is central government unlike AONBs which rely on local authority funding. The SDCB have estimated that the proposed South Downs National Park Authority will have £6-8 million. 75% comes direct in the form of National Parks Grant and 25% through the revenue support grant to all local authorities in the National Park.

3. Will the National Park increase visitor number?
It is unlikely that National Park designation will result in an increase in visitor numbers to the South Downs. Any increase in numbers is more likely to be a result of the south east's rising population. In any case, NPA's prime purpose is to ensure the conservation, preservation and enhancement of the natural environment

Other National Parks
Since the introduction of the National Park and Access to the Countryside Act 1949, ten National Parks and 41 AONBs have been created in England and Wales.

The Parks are: Dartmoor, Exmoor, the Lake District, Northumberland, the North York Moors, the Peak District, the Yorkshire Dales, the Brecon Beacons, Pembroke Coast and Snowdonia. For more information see the Association of National Park Authorities website.