In 2003 Downs Watch raised a petition of 1000 signatures calling on
Bristol City Council (BCC) Downs Committee to stop clearing vegetation from the
Downs. A moratorium was agreed while detailed management proposals were drafted.
So far, management proposals have been approved
for the plateau (Clifton Down and Dyrdham Down) and a draft
Management Plan has been produced for the Avon Gorge (March 2009).
However, if these proposals are implemented there will be dramatic changes to the landscape
of the Bristol Downs and the Avon Gorge. Read more about the background to Downswatch
here.
These management proposals amount to a plan fundamentally to redesign the landscape in
order to attempt to return the Downs and the Avon Gorge to the open grassland of 150
years ago, when the area was grazed by sheep and was mostly treeless.
Downs Watch opposes any plans to redesign the landscape of the Avon Gorge
and Bristol Downs. This beautiful landscape has no need to be redesigned, and
the Council are not the people to be entrusted with doing it.
<-- Click on the Map Image to see our concerns about the Bristol Downs
and Avon Gorge mapped out using Google Maps