A national park in the South Downs would protect the area for future generations and fulfil the vision of early conservationists, it is claimed.

The first day of a public inquiry into the plan heard the Downs was the only part of England and Wales deemed of suitable quality for national park status never to receive it.

Countryside Agency barrister Robert Griffiths said Sir Arthur Hobhouse, the father of national parks in Britain, was a man ahead of his time.

He said Hobhouse recognised the importance of parks in lowland areas more than 50 years ago and there was no reason the South Downs should not receive such protection.

The value of national parks had grown since the world's first was created at Yellowstone in the United States in 1872.

He said: "The concept of such protection quickly took route, especially in the English-speaking world."

Mr Griffiths said the South Downs were worthy of designation and satisfied all the statutory requirements for a national park.

"The South Downs is a very special place.

"It is worthy of designation because of the natural beauty and the opportunities it provides for open-air recreation.

"Designation is the best way to protect the Downs, building on the achievements of the past and conserving and enhancing the area for future generations."

National parks were neither fossilised landscapes nor wholly natural areas.

Instead, a balance had to be struck between conservation, recreation, development and agriculture.

Mr Griffiths said there was a fundamental difference between a park and an area of outstanding natural beauty, the existing designation of the South Downs.

The inquiry examining the designation of the entire South Downs from Eastbourne to Winchester is scheduled to sit until August or September.

The Environment Secretary is not expected to make a decision until 2005.