Purchase in 1930s Throughout the 1920s and 1930s large the Brighton and Eastbourne Corporations bought up large tracts of downland to protect them from development. It was at this period that concern about development also saw the formation of groups such as the Society of Sussex Downsmen (later the South Downs Society and now the Friends of the South Downs ). In the 1930s geographer
Vaughan Cornish advocated a national park for the South Downs between the rivers
Arun and
Adur, believing that the eastern downs would be looked after by Brighton and Eastbourne Councils and the western downs were too wooded to be representative of the South Downs. At
Findon Valley,
Thakeham Rural District Council has approved considerable building of bungalows and this was seen as threatening the integrity of the Iron Age hillfort of Cissbury Ring. With the help of Worthing residents, the National Trust bought land at Cissbury Ring in 1925 to protect it from development. Worthing Corporation (the forerunner to present-day Worthing Borough Council) continued this trend around Worthing in the 1930s. Between 1933 and 1939, the Worthing Corporation purchased acres of open downland north of Worthing, mostly in the parish of
Broadwater and at
High Salvington. Following the protests, the decision was taken on 3 December 2009 to be withdrawn from sale. On 29 November 2015 Worthing Borough Council dedicated the land at Mount Carvey and Tenants Hill as
open access land under the
Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 to be used in perpetuity for public access and enjoyment. The decision followed a six-year public campaign led a group called the Worthing Downlanders (formerly the Stop the Cissbury Sell Off group). Worthing Council agreed to long-term leases rather than selling freeholds on farm buildings and land. ==Biodiversity==