A council has given a reluctant welcome to proposed boundaries for the new South Downs national park.

East Sussex County Council has opposed the creation of a national park since it was put back on the agenda by John Prescott in 1999, saying it would undermine its planning powers.

Since then, much of the county has been considered by the Countryside Agency for inclusion in the national park, fuelling fears about loss of controls by the county, borough and district councils.

Many of those concerns were soothed by the Countryside Agency's new proposals two weeks ago.

Under the plan, the East Sussex part of the national park would cover roughly the same area as the existing Sussex Downs area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB).

Only a fraction of the land outside the existing Sussex Downs AONB is included inside new draft boundaries.

If the agency's board backs this, it will form the basis of consultation on the park's eventual shape.

Among areas considered but not included in the plans are the Pevensey Levels and a large part of the Low Weald skirting the Downs between Polegate and Storrington.

Lewes is included within the proposed national park area, though detailed boundaries have still to be worked out.

Bob Wilkins, East Sussex's director of transport and environment, said: "While the county council still believes a national park is neither necessary nor helpful in the Downs and will bring extra visitor pressure, we do believe if there is to be a national park then it should work well.

"It makes sense the agency has now omitted extensive areas of land which really did not seem to meet the designation criteria but there must still be question marks over the inclusion of Lewes.

"This could make it much harder for the district council to do a proper job as planning authority in the areas left outside the park and it could mean the National Park Authority having a very large planning workload and being diverted into spending a lot of time handling planning applications on housing estates in Lewes."

Mr Wilkins said the county council would work with the Countryside Agency to thrash out the most appropriate boundary and come to an agreement on planning controls.

The boundary announcement was a blow for conservationists who say many areas outside the AONB should be protected.

They fear the proposed boundary could give a green light to developers to build right up to the fringes of the national park.

There will almost certainly be a public inquiry and the park is unlikely to be created before spring 2003.