Meet champion of the South Downs, Phil Belden

Emma Chaplin
, 12 April 2023
Meet champion of the South Downs, Phil Belden
Phil Belden © Emma Chaplin

Phil Belden has been a champion of the South Downs for most of his life and it is something he is still fighting for. The South Downs achieving National Park status would never have happened were it not for the years of hard work and dedication by both Phil and Paul Millmore. Sadly, Paul died in 2012, three years after the South Downs National Park came into being, but Phil (a Trustee of Sussex Wildlife Trust for a remarkable 27 years) is still campaigning to protect both the South Downs as well as the coast of Sussex.

We caught up with him in his home town of Brighton to find out a bit more about him.

Give us a potted history of your life to date.

I grew up in Dorset, just outside Weymouth. Then London for my degree and a City job, but quickly saw the light. In actual fact, it was walking past a pub and seeing an old friend that led me to a wholly different career path. There were hardly any jobs in conservation back then and such a vocation had never occurred to me. This, despite the massive profound awakening in my early teens, the Torrey Canyon oil spill in 1967 off the south-west coast of England, and the utter destruction that resulted. It made me acutely aware of the conflict between commercial drive and environmental protection.

In the pub that fateful night, I was introduced to a guy who worked on the Dorset Heritage Coast job creation scheme. Through that connection, I was offered a job, met a great mentor on the team, and never looked back. I enrolled on many evening classes - biology, ecology etc - cramming as much knowledge as I could and soon became team leader.

I went on to be a Ranger on the coastal Sandlings of Suffolk, which brought out my talent for enthusing volunteers and engaging schools in the environment. From there to East Sussex and the South Downs Conservation Project with Paul Millmore. Paul was a tenacious and ambitious doer. We often worked 60-hour weeks, countryside management workaholics! We extended our Heritage Coast work westwards to the Brighton Downs. Then I moved to West Sussex, to cover the rest of the Sussex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Paul’s and my hidden agenda, to get the whole of the South Downs protected, began subtly, by developing the South Downs Volunteer Ranger Service, spreading east to west.

The idea of the South Downs National Park originated in the 1920s, when public concern was mounting about the threats to the environment particularly by development (eg the creation of Peacehaven).

Back in the 1980s, Paul and I were on a mission, although we weren't being listened to, despite the evidence, it felt we were banging our heads against a brick wall, but the increasing awareness of downland issues ignited people passion and others, slowly, started to take notice.

We wanted permanence and a stronger level of clout - and a funding mechanism, which National Parks have; there is no legal basis for funding AONBs.

Finally, in1990, we managed to get an embryonic South Downs Campaign group going, press-ganging Robin Crane to chair, with a few key influential bodies, such as the Sussex Wildlife Trust and the Ramblers Association. This slowly grew, and we succeeded with lots of press interest, but some councils strongly resisted. They were difficult early years, gathering evidence and campaigning. The group gradually grew into an influential body.

The turning point was probably 1997, just before the general election, when a farmer ploughed up a supposed protected chalk grassland site and a massive campaign ensued, by activists from Lewes and regionally. The incoming Labour government made the promise, though it took a decade, in 2009 the South Downs was finally confirmed a National Park. It was the last of the twelve recommended landscapes to receive this status (from the 1949 National Parks Act). The SDNPA has the powers, permanence and long-term funding to tackle the key issues of agriculture, development and recreation. It's not perfect, but it's so much better than it was.

Chalkland grass flowers © Phil Belden
Chalkland grass flowers © Phil Belden

Why are the Downs so important?

Chalk grassland is probably the most internationally diverse habitat in North West Europe. You can find up to 50 species in a quality patch of old downland.

Why does public ownership matter?

It's democratic and more accountable. It gives the public the opportunity to influence positive change. Local authority elections are in May, so we're going to write to every candidate and ask for their pledge for our public Downs. The downside of public ownership is that it's subject to the vagaries of the politics of the time, so use your vote.

What's your connection to Sussex Wildlife Trust?

I’ve been a volunteer, I was a trustee from 1988 to 2015. I then went to help with some policy, land management and campaign advice with the Conservation Team.

Where do you get your energy from?

I'm a natural enthusiast and am motivated by others with a can-do attitude. I want to empower people. I never trust it when things are going well because we can all get complacent.

What's your favourite spot in Sussex?

The seascape of our natural coastline. It's so rare here. In the South West, nearly 50% is defined undeveloped Heritage Coast; in the overheated South East, it’s 7%!

What are you currently working on?

The Brighton Downs Alliance – over 30 organisations committed to protecting the Brighton Downs. Activists in the area are so brilliant and we've done our best to fight off attempts to sell-off downland, from Worthing to Eastbourne.

Leave a comment
Time Δ Debug Message - Perch Runway 3.2
1782913247.13830 [906] SELECT p.pagePath, pr.routePattern, pr.routeRegExp, p.pageTemplate, pr.routeOrder, s.settingValue AS siteOffline FROM swt_pages_staging p LEFT JOIN swt_page_routes pr ON p.pageID=pr.pageID LEFT JOIN swt_settings s ON s.settingID='siteOffline' UNION SELECT NULL AS pagePath, pr2.routePattern, pr2.routeRegExp, pr2.templatePath AS pageTemplate, pr2.routeOrder, NULL AS siteOffline FROM swt_page_routes pr2 WHERE templateID!=0 ORDER BY routeOrder ASC, pagePath ASC
1782913247.16490.0266Matched route: news/[slug:s]
1782913247.1650.0001Server address: 216.73.217.103
1782913247.16510Using master page: /templates/pages/blog/post.php
1782913247.16510Page arguments: 
Array
(
    [0] => /news/meet-champion-of-the-south-downs-phil-belden
    [s] => meet-champion-of-the-south-downs-phil-belden
    [1] => meet-champion-of-the-south-downs-phil-belden
)
1782913247.16550.0004 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782913247.16670.0013 [86] SELECT DISTINCT settingID, settingValue FROM swt_settings WHERE userID=0
1782913247.16860.0018 [1] SELECT locationID FROM swt_shop_tax_locations WHERE locationIsHome=1 LIMIT 1
1782913247.16920.0006INSERT INTO swt_shop_cart(memberID,locationID,currencyID,cartPricing,cartProperties) VALUES(NULL,'1',47,'standard','[]')
1782913247.17150.0023 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22484847
1782913247.17220.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22484847
1782913247.1730.0008 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_sales WHERE saleFrom<='2026-07-01 13:40:00' AND saleTo>'2026-07-01 13:40:00' AND saleActive=1 AND saleDeleted IS NULL ORDER BY saleOrder ASC
1782913247.17480.0017 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='meet-champion-of-the-south-downs-phil-belden')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-01 13:40:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 10
1782913247.17750.0028 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1782913247.17820.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postID=3046 AND postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-01 13:40:00'
1782913247.17930.0011 [13] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_sections ORDER BY sectionTitle ASC
1782913247.180.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blogs ORDER BY blogTitle ASC
1782913247.18080.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=195 LIMIT 1
1782913247.18130.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=227 LIMIT 1
1782913247.1820.0007Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782913247.18240.0004 [162] SELECT catID, catPath FROM swt_categories
1782913247.18330.0009 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-01 13:40:00' AND postSlug='meet-champion-of-the-south-downs-phil-belden'
1782913247.20380.0205Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782913247.20460.0008 [250] SELECT country, countryID FROM swt_shop_countries WHERE countryActive=1 ORDER BY country ASC
1782913247.20630.0016Using template: /templates/pages/attributes/seo.html
1782913247.20650.0003 [1] SELECT regionID, regionTemplate, regionPage, regionRev AS rev FROM swt_content_regions WHERE regionKey='Banner image' AND (regionPage='/news/post' OR regionPage='*')
1782913247.20750.0009 [nil] SELECT * FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, c.regionID, idx.pageID, c.itemJSON, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_content_index idx JOIN swt_content_items c ON idx.itemID=c.itemID AND idx.itemRev=c.itemRev AND idx.regionID=c.regionID JOIN swt_content_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev AND idx2.indexKey='_order' WHERE ((idx.regionID=104 AND idx.itemRev=0)) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev ) as tbl GROUP BY itemID, pageID, itemJSON, sortval, regionID ORDER BY sortval ASC
1782913247.2090.0015 [82] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageDepth >=0 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782913247.21210.0031 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782913247.21270.0006 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782913247.21480.0021Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template.html
1782913247.2150.0002 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782913247.21580.0009 [4] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782913247.21630.0005 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782913247.21940.0031 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782913247.22050.0012 [7] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782913247.22140.0009 [9] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782913247.22450.0031 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' OR pageSortPath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782913247.22530.0008 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageHidden=0 AND pageNew=0 AND pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition
1782913247.22760.0023 [1] Using template: /templates/navigation/breadcrumbs.html
1782913247.22810.0005Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782913247.22850.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='20' LIMIT 1
1782913247.22910.0007Using template: /templates/blog/author.html
1782913247.22950.0003 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='meet-champion-of-the-south-downs-phil-belden')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-01 13:40:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 1
1782913247.23160.0021 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1782913247.23210.0005 [1] Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782913247.2360.0039Using template: /templates/blog/comment_form.html
1782913247.23750.0015 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_comments WHERE 1=1 AND postID=3046 AND commentStatus='LIVE' ORDER BY FIELD(webmentionType, 'like', 'repost', 'comment', NULL) ASC, commentDateTime ASC
1782913247.28870.0512 [0] Using template: /templates/blog/comment.html
1782913247.28890.0003Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782913247.28920.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='20' LIMIT 1
1782913247.29020.001 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/what-we-do' OR pageSortPath='/what-we-do' LIMIT 1
1782913247.2910.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-002' LIMIT 1
1782913247.29170.0008 [7] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-002%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782913247.29370.002 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782913247.29430.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782913247.29620.0019 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1782913247.29720.001 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1782913247.29780.0006 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1782913247.29820.0004 [38] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782913247.30050.0023 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782913247.3010.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782913247.30290.002 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1782913247.30680.0039 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/visit' OR pageSortPath='/visit' LIMIT 1
1782913247.30780.001 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-004' LIMIT 1
1782913247.30850.0007 [30] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-004%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782913247.31070.0022 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782913247.31120.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782913247.31320.002 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1782913247.31620.003 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1782913247.31720.001 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1782913247.31780.0006 [11] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782913247.320.0022 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782913247.32060.0006 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782913247.32250.0019 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1782913247.32460.0021Request time: 0.1902
1782913247.32460Process time: 0.19
1782913247.32460Memory: 1.6521