150 guests were invited to Petworth House on Thursday to hear direct from the National Parks Minister, Huw Irranca-Davis MP, and Secretary of State, Hilary Benn MP about the next steps in bringing the park into being

in April 2011. Supporters and opponents of th national park were present including; The South Downs Campaign Group, Country Landowners Association, MPs, councillors and many more.

Simon Burgess, who was there representing Des Turner MP, thanked everyone who had worked so hard to make the park a reality and put it to those present; "whilst there are some good structures and partnerships already in place one of the reasons so many people got behind this campaign is because they want change. They want to see the park authority have strong and effective powers, for their to be coherence in policy and strategy so that the area can be truly conserved and enhanced."

Simon and Des Turner MP have backed the campaign for over 12 years, most recently they distributed 15,000 campaign postcards in the area last year.