Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
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An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is an area of countryside with significant landscape value in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, that has been specially designated by the Countryside Agency on behalf of the United Kingdom government.
The primary purpose of the AONB designation is to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of the landscape, with two secondary aims: meeting the need for quiet enjoyment of the countryside and having regard for the interests of those who live and work there. To achieve these aims, AONBs rely on planning controls and practical countryside management.
AONBs may be compared to the national parks of England and Wales. AONBs are created under the same legislation as the national parks, the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. Unlike AONBs, national parks have their own authorities, have special legal powers to prevent unsympathetic development, and are well known to many inhabitants of England and Wales. By contrast, there are very limited statutory duties imposed on local authorities within an AONB and there is evidence to indicate many residents in such areas may be unaware of the status. However, further regulation and protection of AONBs was added by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, and the Government has recently said that it accepts that AONBs and national parks should have equal status when it comes to planning consent and other sensitive issues.
There are 36 AONBs in England, four in Wales, and one (Wye Valley) that has parts in both England and Wales. The most recent one to be set up was the Tamar Valley AONB in 1994. AONBs vary greatly in terms of size, type and use of land, whether they are partly or wholly open to the public. Some local councils have AONB officers and other dedicated staff; others do not. The smallest AONB is the Isles of Scilly (1976), 16 km², and the largest AONB is the Cotswolds (1966), 2,038 km². The AONBs of England and Wales together cover around 18% of the countryside in the two countries.
There are growing concerns among environmental and countryside groups that AONB status is increasingly under threat from development. The Campaign to Protect Rural England said in July 2006 that many AONBs were under greater threat that ever before. Three particular sites were cited: the Dorset AONB threatened by a road plan, the threat of a football stadium in the Sussex Downs AONB, and, larger than any other, a £1 billion plan by Imperial College to build thousands of houses and offices on hundreds of acres of AONB land on the Kent Downs at Wye (covered in detail at save-wye.org). Imperial College have now withdrawn their plans for development, seemingly to the disappointment of both Ashford Borough and Kent County councils (September 2006).
[edit] Scotland
The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 does not cover Scotland, instead Scotland has National Scenic Areas but there are significant differences. The Scottish Parliament passed the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000 creating two National parks of Scotland for Scotland. National Scenic Areas are designated and promoted by Scottish Natural Heritage
[edit] List of AONBs by Country
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| Northern Ireland | |
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[edit] See also
- National Scenic Areas
- Conservation in the United Kingdom
- European Landscape Conventioncy:Ardal o Harddwch Naturiol Eithriadol
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