Conservation watchdogs are concerned after it was revealed a third of the planning applications they opposed were approved.

Figures published by the Sussex Downs Conservation Board show councils approved 31 per cent of plans it objected to in 1998-99. The board says there has been a further increase in the ten months since March last year.

Board officials said the increase was "significant, and at face value worrying" in a report presented to their planning committee yesterday. The figures will provide further ammunition to campaigners for a national park, who say councils cannot be trusted to preserve the Downs.

Since the board was formed in 1993 it has objected to 102 planning applications inside the area of outstanding natural beauty that were later approved by councils, 42 of them during 1998/99. The board says some 80 per cent of plans it objected to were refused or satisfactorily altered in the four years to 1997.

Officials believe the increase in the last three years may be because the board is now more inclined to raise objections. Paul Millmore, vice-chairman of the board's planning committee, said: "This is very worrying and shows that the district councils and county councils making planning decisions in the Downs are not taking conservation of the area as a priority."

Among local authorities singled out are West Sussex County Council, which last year renewed permission for a waste transfer station at Halewick Lane, Sompting.

Brighton and Hove Council also approved a site for travellers at Horsdean and Wealden District Council granted permission for sea defences at the Birling Gap. Significant developments approved by councils in Chichester, Eastbourne, Lewes and Mid Sussex are also identified in the report.

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