In 2003 Downs Watch raised a petition of 1000 signatures calling on Bristol City Council 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. If these proposals are implemented in full there will be dramatic changes to the landscape of the Bristol Downs and the Avon Gorge. 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.
There is much in the Council Management Plan for the Downs (as published on the web site), which Downs Watch applauds, and we are the first to admit that proper management, particularly in view of the many conflicting interest groups with a 'stake' in the Bristol Downs and Avon Gorge is necessary.
Among the issues which we are going to cover on this web site in the near future are: