The Downlands Countryside Management Project established in 1988 is a partnership between six

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and Surrey

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

set up to manage an area of countryside of 130 km² across the south of Outer London. The main aims are the management of the rare

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Cha ...

downland Downland, chalkland, chalk downs or just downs are areas of open chalk hills, such as the North Downs. This term is used to describe the characteristic landscape in southern England where chalk is exposed at the surface. The name "downs" is deriv ...

within the area; the development of an extensive network of trails (including the London Loop); and the improvements to signposting; rights of way; woodland and pond management. The Project is supported by the boroughs of Sutton and

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extens ...

; and by

Surrey County Council Surrey County Council is the county council administering certain services in the non-metropolitan county of Surrey in England. The council is composed of 81 elected councillors, and in all but one election since 1965 the Conservative Party h ...

; the

City of London Corporation The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the municipal governing body of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United King ...

; the Surrey districts of

Reigate and Banstead Reigate and Banstead is a local government district with borough status in east Surrey, England. It includes the towns of Reigate, Redhill, Horley and Banstead. The borough borders the Borough of Crawley (in West Sussex) to the south, the ...

and

Tandridge Tandridge is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge District, in the county of Surrey, England. Its nucleus is on a rise of the Greensand Ridge between Oxted and Godstone. It includes, towards its middle one named sub-locality ( ha ...

; and the Countryside Agency. An additional partner is Natural Britain.{{Cite web , url=http://www.surreycc.gov.uk/sccwebsite/sccwspages.nsf/LookupWebPagesByTITLE_RTF/Downlands+Project+-+partners?opendocument , title=Downland project partners , access-date=2007-07-27 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930185123/http://www.surreycc.gov.uk/sccwebsite/sccwspages.nsf/LookupWebPagesByTITLE_RTF/Downlands+Project+-+partners?opendocument , archive-date=2007-09-30 , url-status=dead

References

External links

Press release
Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Sutton Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Croydon Geography of Surrey