So, we have roughly 13,000 hectares of land being farmed in the South Downs Environmentally Sensitive Area.

This represents 25 per cent of the total eligible land. There should be 100 per cent of this land in the scheme.

All of the downland is environmentally-sensitive, not just one quarter.

We need a South Downs National Park that can deliver a much greater commitment to conservation of our precious wildlife rather than this scheme, which is failing to address three-quarters of the landscape.

One reads of the loss of farmland bird life, polluting agricultural practices, BSE and foot-and-mouth disease.

It is very poor that the South Downs is a so-called Environmentally Sensitive Area, yet these issues are quite clearly not being resolved.

One only hopes the new National Park Authority will have the power and resources to effectively deal with problems and get a 100 per cent sensitive management of this nationally-important area.

-Mr R Croft, London Road, Patcham