STAND IN the Seven Sisters country park and enjoy one of the most majestic views in southern England.

As you admire the towering chalk cliffs and the steep stretches of downland, you may not immediately wonder who manages this beauty spot. But it is a matter that much exercises members of East Sussex County Council which cares for this superb stretch of countryside.

They are wondering whether it would be better to have it run by another organisation which specialises in managing such landscapes. These could range from the National Trust, which already owns larger tracts of the Downs, to the Sussex Wildlife Trust which runs reserves all over the county.

East Sussex has run the Seven Sisters Park for almost half a century and has generally make a good fist of it. But the park is starting to look rather tired and messy at the main pressure point by the River Ouse at Exceat. Someone once said the Lake District was in danger of being loved to death and the same applies to this mixture of meanders and cliffs which is well known in many parts of the world.

Because access is easy, the path down to the estuary from Exceat has become the M25 of walkers. On fine days there are so many that any sense of seclusion disappears.

I find myself torn between admiration that so many people enjoy going there and an unworthy wish that some of them would go away. They probably feel the same about me.

East Sussex also controls a number of smaller but still important tracts of countryside ranging from Chailey Common to Camber Sands. Could they also be run by specialist or local trusts?

The county has a mixed record over rural attractions. It was widely thought to have been unfair to the former owner of Bentley Wildfowl reserve near Ringmer. But it was sensible to leave Ashdown Forest in the hands of conservators who really know and understand their patch. East Sussex is not alone as a council in owning large areas of downland. Eastbourne has extensive holdings near Beachy Head.

Brighton and Hove owns even more including downland not actually within its boundaries. It acquired most of its holdings between the wars to protect water supplies and stop the uncontrolled growth of suburbia. Councillors had good company in their concerns over downland. The Society of Sussex Downsmen, later renamed the South Downs Society, was particularly worried about land at Crowlink near the Seven Sisters after seeing what had happened at Peacehaven. They have kept a beady eye on the Downs ever since, notably in the 1980s when opposing the building of the Brighton bypass while most of officialdom welcomed it despite the enormous damage it caused.

There has been concern recently over proposed land sales, largely in the case of Eastbourne and less so in Brighton and Hove.

The threat of huge housing in beautiful places has almost gone. But there are still concerns about homes on the urban fringe and structures such as mobile phone masts. Brighton sold some of its downland near the Devil’s Dyke to the National Trust which already owned neighbouring land. This was on the sensible premise that the Trust knew far more about ecology than most council officials.

The Trust, which owns thousands of acres next to the coast all over Britain, could be the best organisation to run the Seven Sisters country park. But a case could be made for the Sussex Wildlife Trust especially if it joined forces with the South Downs Society. There is also logic in suggesting that the job should be done by the downland National Parks authority. But I would rather this remained as overseer of all the Downs than manager of smaller chunks, no matter how special.

There is a real danger that caring for the Downs cold be partly enveloped in the fog of bureaucracy. Already there are parish, town, district, borough and county councils involved, not to mention the trusts, while a great deal of land is still owned and run privately. The pressure on the Downs is enormous. This national park is easily the most visited and has the most people living in it.

Many visitors tend to congregate in places not far from beauty spots such as the Devil’s Dyke and Ditchling Beacon and most of all, Exceat.

They need to be encouraged far more than they are now to spread their wings and venture a little further afield.

Many lovers of the countryside should contribute more than they do now towards maintaining and improving the Downs.