Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help (a) protect and (b) support the South Downs National Park.

This Government has committed to empower all Protected Landscapes, including the South Downs National Park, to be greener, wilder and more accessible.

In the 25-26 financial year, we are providing £9.6 million of core resource funding to South Downs National Park Authority, alongside £2 million capital investment. We have also extended programmes such as Farming in Protected Landscapes, providing £30 million to support projects in our National Landscapes and National Parks, until March 2026. In 25-26, the overall Farming in Protected Landscapes allocation to the South Downs National Park is £756,488.

On the 16 December we committed to strengthen their underpinning legislation and governance. We will co-design the new legislation with partners but intend to strengthen the statutory purposes of National Landscapes and National Parks to give them a clear mandate to recover nature. Through this recovery, Protected Landscapes will fight climate change, foster a thriving green economy, and support the mental and physical health of the nation.

The legislation will also update their governance to ensure it creates the conditions for success, innovation and collaboration. This will include providing National Park Authorities with a general power of competence – which will clarify their legal framework and remove barriers to integrated delivery.

We have also published guidance for relevant authorities to make expectations clear in relation to their duty to seek to further the purposes of Protected Landscapes.