CONSERVATIONISTS in East Hampshire are setting up an emergency meeting after news that Petersfield could be excluded from the new South Downs National Park. They have welcomed news that at least the designation process is back in motion after a 16- month delay. But there are concerns after an announcement from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) that representations and objections are invited on "a possible alternative boundary line between Petersfield and Pulborough". The South Downs Campaign (SDC) has welcomed the restart of the designation process by Defra, with a six-week consultation period which starts on July 2. The process has been on hold since February 2006 and it is more than two years since the South Downs National Park inquiry ended. But the SDC has said it would be concerned if the possible alternative boundary between Petersfield and Pulborough led to areas within the Low Weald and settlements such as Petersfield, Liss, Midhurst and Petworth being excluded from the park. The SDC is strongly opposed to any loss of protection for the area but can't form a full view on this until the inspector's report is published on July 2. South Downs Campaign chairman Robin Crane said this week: "We are giving a guarded welcome to the news that the inspector has recommended that the South Downs should be made a national park and that additional areas should be included within it. "But we are concerned about the potential implications for the Low Weald in Hampshire and West Sussex. We are strongly opposed to this area losing its protected status and firmly believe that it should be part of the national park." And as The Herald went to press on Wednesday, East Hampshire District Council deputy chief executive Daphne Gardner said she was due to give councillors an emergency report on the South Downs Park development at a full meeting of councillors on Wednesday night. "The situation is that we haven't had the details of the possible alternative boundary yet," she told The Herald, "and we are as much in the dark as everyone else. "All we know is that there is to be a consultation from July 2 for six weeks." She said East Hampshire District Council was planning to set up a briefing session for district, town and parish councillors and all interested organisations next month so that they could make a formal response to the consultation. She said she expected details of the "possible alternative boundary" to be published within the next few days and urged people interested to look for them on the Defra website, http://www.defra.gov.uk">www.defra.gov.uk. Miss Gardner added that the details would also be available on EHDC's website – http://www.easthants.gov.uk">www.easthants.gov.uk – when available. District councillors were informed in February 2006 by Defra that it had decided to stop the national park designation process because of a High Court judgment concerning the designation of the New Forest National Park. The drastic action has been taken following the High Court ruling that the Countryside Agency and the inspector had mistakenly interpreted the two key criteria for creating a national park.