Land set aside for an axed bypass project could become a late addition to the proposed South Downs national park.

Countryside chiefs expect to include the line of the Arundel bypass in the park, after Transport Secretary Alistair Darling rejected the road project.

The area had been included in the draft boundary, published for consultation, but was left out of the final version because it included the route of the planned road.

Jane Cecil, of the Countryside Agency's national park designation team, said it was "looking likely" there would be a review at Arundel.

She said: "We did say if the bypass did not go ahead we would bring the land back into the boundary and that is what we are looking at now."

The agency wants to move the boundary slightly to the south where it crosses the Arun valley. Woods at Tortington Common, where road protesters had begun setting-up camps to try to stop the bypass, would also be included.

Mr Darling surprised observers when he dropped Arundel and four other A27 schemes from road building plans, saying they would be bad for the environment.

Councillor Tex Pemberton, who holds the environment portfolio on West Sussex County Council's ruling cabinet, said: "We do have congestion and we do have a need for a bypass."