It is bemusing to see Councillor Henry Smith claiming West Sussex County Council was right in its opposition to the South Downs National Park because of a court case in the New Forest (The Argus, April 15).

It was the New Forest case which moved the goalposts rather than the Government, rejecting man's influence on the landscape and, in so doing, casting a cloud over all protected landscapes, including the Sussex Downs Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

Thank goodness the Government acted when it did by enshrining in legislation the approach which has been used for the past 50 years in designating our National Parks.

Unlike Coun Smith and the judge in the New Forest case, readers will know all our National Parks and AONBs are shaped by man, from obvious development such as towns, villages, roads and reservoirs to the more subtle shaping of the landscape by agriculture and forestry.

Henry Smith's position is not only at odds with reality but also with his own party. Conservative front bench environment spokesman, James Paice MP, agreed with the Government that the judgement from the New Forest was anomalous.

He went on to say if the stringent criteria defined by the judge were used we would probably have no National Parks at all.

It is unfortunate Coun Smith is still clutching at straws in his council's opposition to a South Downs National Park. The increasingly desperate and inaccurate statements emanating from County Hall are the best indication yet that we are moving ever closer to our dream of a South Downs National Park.

With it, the South Downs will enjoy better funding and protection, which has been sorely missing for the past 50 years.

-Robin Crane CBE, chairman, South Downs Campaign, Bridge Cottage, Well Lane, Cocking Causeway, Midhurst