Green tourism is back on the countryside agenda as planners and tourism bosses look for ways to bring in visitors without them wrecking the landscape.

Roger Budden is under no illusion about the scale of the task ahead after being put in charge of a two-year project aimed at delivering and promoting a sustainable tourism project that strikes a balance between helping struggling rural economies and protecting an environment he says must still be there to admire in 150 years.

The aim is to bring in vitallyneeded cash from tourism without allowing visitors to wreck the landscape by trampling over areas they are not wanted and polluting the atmosphere with cars.

It is a problem Mr Budden is well aware of after ten years as tourism officer with West Sussex County Council before being hired by a new partnership to develop tourism policies for the South-East countryside.

His work will not just be about tourists though. Another aim is to help farmers struggling in the wake of foot-and-mouth by persuading tourist attractions, hotels and the bed-and-breakfast industry to buy local produce.

It is a big job covering an area that also includes The Chilterns and the North Wessex Downs as well as the three Sussex Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) - the Downs, the High Weald and Chichester Harbour.

Mr Budden said: "In terms of space, about a third of the South-

East is covered by AONBs but each varies in its landscape and all are unique. The aim of the sustainable tourism project is to strike the difficult balance between bringing money into the rural economies without damaging the very environment visitors have come to see."

His post is funded by partners including the Countryside Agency, the South-East England Tourist Board and the South-East England Development Agency (Seeda).

One of his first tasks is an indepth look at levels of holiday provision to identify gaps where tourism can be promoted sensibly.

Already a lack of camping facilities along the South Downs Way, the long-distance walking route from Eastbourne to Winchester, is on his agenda.

But trying to persuade visitors to abandon their cars is an issue Mr Budden admitted would be a major challenge, although for day visitors he said there were many good services into counties like Sussex from London.

His work is more likely to concentrate on persuading long-term visitors to leave their cars parked when they arrive by promoting public transport, footpaths and persuading hotels to offer guests cyclehire facilities.

Mr Budden said: "Some very good ideas have come from a tourismwithout-

traffic scheme at the eastern end of the region and I think the focus will not be so much on people leaving their cars at home but what they do with them when they are here."

In East Sussex many of the ideas Mr Budden's project will be looking to bring in across the South-East have already been successfully implemented and a hotel near Storrington is also developing a green approach.

Hotelier Ted Cowdrey is the founder of Seaford Town Accommodation Group (Stag), which launched a major green tourism initiative that got many visitors to arrive by train.

Stag persuaded former rail operator Connex to offer subsidised fares with hotels supplying cycles for guests to use.

Mr Cowdrey, who owns the Silverdale Hotel, said: "We also supplied people with itineraries linked to every bus stop in Seaford so they could get on and off and just pay £2.50 for an all-day pass."

Aware some people would still want to use their cars, details of tourist attractions, maps, mileages and leaflets were also issued. Mr Cowdrey said: "This meant people who went off into the countryside were not roaming around in their cars for many more miles than necessary."

The scheme is now on the backburner after Connex lost its franchise, although talks about reviving it are taking place owithnew train operators Govia.

A hotel at West Chiltington, near Storrington, is also operating its own initiative.

The Roundabout Hotel gives guests information on getting about by public transport.

It also produces a leaflet advertising walks and is looking at introducing cycle hire.

Mr Budden said he hoped his project would lead to similar schemes across the region.