SOUTH Downs National Park Authority has applied to put up 15 park boundary signs along the park border in East Hampshire.

The 1.9m high and 1m wide signs will go up at Liphook, Catherington Down, Rowlands Castle, West Tisted, Alresford, Hambledon, Lower Upham, Bishop’s Waltham, and two at Winchester.

The proposal has been met with approval by most of the parish councils, although some still have to meet to discuss it.

West Tisted parish council chairman Mike Bottril said: “We are very supportive of this national park application for a park boundary sign in our parish at Smugglers Lane.”

Local materials will be used to make the signs, and where ever possible local craftspeople will make them, said the national park.

The signs are intended to raise awareness, and the profile, of the national park as a place of national and international importance.

The signs are also intended to create a strong and positive sense of arrival, and help foster the economic and social wellbeing of local communities in the park.