THE proposal to establish a new grassroots society to promote the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty has received overwhelming support. An inaugural meeting attracted individuals and representatives of interested organisations and groups including farmers, landowners, councillors, walkers and conservationists. The Surrey Hills stretches across a quarter of the county to include the chalk slopes of the North Downs, from Farnham in the west to Oxted in the east and extending south to the deeply wooded Greensand Hills which rise in Haslemere. More than 170 country-lovers from across that area turned out at Denbies Wine Estate to discuss the idea for a new Surrey Hill Society, to act as everything from lobby and campaign group to conservation volunteer force and project fundraiser. A near unanimous show of hands revealed huge enthusiasm and dozens of people came forward to offer their help to get the society off the ground. The Campaign to Protect Rural England, the National Trust and Surrey Wildlife Trust were among those in favour. Advocating the case for the foundation of the society was Neil Maltby, former chairman of Mole Valley District Council, who said that 10 years ago the Countryside Agency decided that Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty were neglected and needed a higher profile. As a result, the Surrey Hills AONB Partnership was set up in 1999 and local awareness of the value of the landscape had risen significantly. "The partnership has management plans but is limited in what it can do," he said, "And the current funding from Natural England is under pressure. There is still, however, little public awareness of the Surrey Hills AONB which stretches across a quarter of the county. "We therefore need to take another step forward and try to embrace everybody who lives in the area of the AONB. It is time we had a membership society." He suggested its role could include arranging talks and walks to increase people's understanding of the AONB. "It is an exceptional place and how lucky we are to have it on our doorstep," he said. "I believe the society would be all inclusive and benefit from the experience of all the other organisations. It would cooperate with partners like the National Trust and Surrey Wildlife Trust and have fundraising opportunities that the partnership does not have. "The society would be member driven and have a newsletter and website and volunteers, local rangers and area wardens, take up planning issues, promote local rural industry, farming and forestry and work to retain the beauty of the Surrey Hills." Mr Maltby said the Surrey Hills Society would depend entirely on volunteers, though its initial set up would be sponsored by the partnership. "It would be a registered charity and would have a life of its own, doing what its members wanted it to do," he said.
