Breadcrumbs
Management arrangements in the North Wessex Downs AONB
In late 2001 a Council of Partners was formed to bring together key partners with interests in the area. Its membership consists of government agencies, local authorities and community, conservation, farming, landowning, business & voluntary organisations. The AONB charter sets out how they work together for the long-term benefit of the AONB and all who live and work in it.
The Council is an advisory body with a strategic input and is responsible for setting priorities and objectives. It acts as a catalyst and facilitator in forging consensus and making recommendations to its constituent bodies and other organisations on policies and the allocation of resources in relation to the protection and enhancement of the AONB. The Executive is the operational arm of the Partnership and is directly accountable to the Council.
In May 2002 an AONB Director was appointed, followed by two assistants, all are based in Hungerford and are known as the AONB Unit. In 2004, the unit published an AONB management plan on behalf of the constituent local authorities. To find out more about the work of the AONB unit and to download a copy of the management plan visit the partnership's website www.northwessexdowns.org.uk
Statutory policies
Because there are 12 local authorities within the AONB the statutory planning framework is complex. All four county structure plans contain specific protective references to the AONB within comprehensive non-AONB specific environmental policy frameworks.
The Oxfordshire Structure Plan states that 'in AONBs high priority will be given to the protection and enhancement of the beauty of the area' and damaging development will be 'strongly resisted'.
The North East Wiltshire Structure Plan and Western Wiltshire Structure Plan contain policies for the AONB 'generally restricting development to that essential to the rural economy or desirable for the enjoyment of its amenities.' Where development proposals meet these criteria, they will be critically examined as to siting and scale, landscaping, design and materials, access roads and lack of traffic hazards.
Other Structure Plans covering the area reflect the general tone of those above.
The many adopted and draft local plans for the AONB support Structure Plan policies.
Other AONB publications
In April 2002, the Countryside Agency published CA7, 'A landscape assessment of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty'.
Action on the ground
There is no specific countryside management service for the AONB. Practical countryside initiatives are undertaken separately by local authorities and conservation organisations, some examples are given below:
- Berkshire County Council initiatives include access and parking controls and revegetation measures at Walbury Hill Fort,
- Swindon Borough Council has responsibility for Barbury Castle Country Park,
- visitor-orientated countryside projects are increasing within the AONB and include the Ridgeway National Trail Project, the Wiltshire Cycleway, a county council route-marked circuit around the edge of Wiltshire with two cross-country links; and the Oxfordshire Cycle Way, a county council route running along the northern boundary of the AONB between Wantage and Kingston Lisle,
- the Kennet and Avon Canal has been restored by a consortium of public bodies at the prompting of the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust and with certain restrictions is again open to navigation. Towpath improvements and canalside car parks are improving access to the canal. The Kennet and Avon Canal Partnership Heritage Lottery Project aims to secure the linear living and working heritage of the waterway,
- the National Trust has made considerable land purchases in and around Avebury and at Streatley in the Goring Gap,
- indvidually, local authorities within the AONB have produced a number of walking and interpretative leaflets relevant to the AONB's landscape, wildlife and history.
Active conservation organisations
A number of conservation and voluntary bodies own or manage land in the AONB including English Nature, English Heritage and the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Naturalists' Trust. Other bodies include the Friends of the Ridgeway, the Council for the Protection of Rural England and local groups set up to resist development.
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