A PILLAR of countryside conservation has received national recognition in the 2016 New Year Honours List.

A delighted Sarah Bain, president of the Black Down and Hindhead Supporters Group of the National Trust, said she was “totally and utterly amazed” to be awarded a British Empire Medal for services to conservation in Surrey and West Sussex.

Mrs Bain joined the Black Down committee supporting the National Trust in 1999 and when it merged with the Hindhead committee to become a joint group in 2005, she was made chairman until 2014 when she became president. The last 16 years have seen dramatic improvements to the countryside in Hindhead, following the merging of the commons in 2011 when the A3 Hindhead Tunnel was built.

As a committee member and group chairman, she was in the thick of it working together with the National Trust.As well as her conservation work, Mrs Bain has been busy raising public awareness of the countryside delights on Haslemere’s doorstep and researched the history of the area for her Hindhead Guide published in 2014, which is on sale at the National Trust’s Devil’s Punch Bowl Cafe.

She said: “I feel incredibly flattered that anyone thought of proposing me for a British Empire Medal.

“Building the tunnel was a huge thing for our group. We went through all the agonies of the public inquiry and took a lot of the flak from those who wanted to keep the old road for the four years it went on. We did a lot of work on the benefits of taking the old road away.

“There were two very good reasons for doing it, firstly the environmental benefits crucial for endangered heathland species, and secondly, the National Trust by law can’t part with any assets. It had to part with land in order to make the tunnel and could only do that with a comparable land swap by taking the road back to heathland.

“Ground nesting bird such as night jars and wood larks have already benefited from merging the heathland and dartford warblers are making a comeback, as is the silver studded blue butterfly and the sand lizard.

“The increase in visitors has also made it a huge benefit for Haslemere.

“I have also been involved in the conservation work to restore the heathland at Black Down and with the Speckled Wood extension and new Orchard House at Swan Barn Farm.”

Former Sussex and Surrey Police Chief Superintendent Paul Morrison, and Olivia Pinkney, Deputy Chief Constable of Sussex Police, were awarded the Queen’s Police Medal.

Congratulating both officers, Sussex Chief Constable Giles York said: “All of us extend our huge congratulations to Olivia on her award, which is richly deserved. This award recognises her distinguished career, so far, seeing her deliver exceptional policing services, in so many roles, to the public in Avon and Somerset, Sussex and complemented by her time at Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary.”

Mr Morrison is now the Commissioner of Anguilla Police, having left Sussex in 2015.