| Useful contacts: | |
| SDNPA | Tim Squire |
| West Sussex |
01243 777620 or Darren Rolfe, Volunteer Coordinator, 07793 187893 |
| East Hampshire | 0845 6035636 or 01329 225398 |
| East Sussex | 0345 6080193 |
| Brighton & Hove |
01273 292929 |
The National Park Authority now looks after Open Access Areas, and the Local Authorities look after other Rights of Way. Public access rights are the same as they were before the decision was taken to make it a National Park. We still have the same excellent rights of way, with a good network of public footpaths and some open-access hillside fields. So, the National Park designation does not mean that any land has been nationalized or bought by the government from its private owners.
On the other hand, access to the downs is very good and still improving. Extra Permissive Rights of Way, selected open access areas, and guided access to quiet areas at appropriate times of year, are increasingly being added by land managers and supported by agri-environment finance.
Fences are necessary to keep grazing animals in the right places, to protect sheep from dogs, and road and track users from straying livestock. Wildlife thrives comparatively undisturbed in quiet grassland arable and woodland blocks where there is not a right of public access.
The Countryside Code is much the same for the South Downs as anywhere else but the National Park Authority have produced a special version for the South Downs which you can find here. In view of the importance of sheep and cattle farming to maintaining the downland landscape please take special note of how the Code asks you to look after your dog near livestock.
Be safe, plan ahead and follow any signs
Leave gates and property as you find them
Protect plants and animals and take your litter home
Keep dogs under close control