Consultation on the Government’s review of protected landscapes runs from 15 January to 9 April. The North Pennines AONB Partnership will respond formally as part of this process, but our initial response is below:

Chris Woodley-Stewart, Director of the North Pennines AONB Partnership said:

“We welcome the publication of what is in part a response and in part a consultation from the Government. It makes some encouraging statements about strengthening AONBs in line with the Review Panel’s recommendations, but it lacks a degree of ambition and certainly lacks detail at the moment; we see the consultation as an opportunity to further support Government to put some meaningful meat on the bones of the proposals. We’ll be doing this locally and through our work with the National Association for AONBs.

“We would like to see an extension and revision of AONB purposes as recommended by Glover, that accurately reflects the work we do and the challenges we face today, especially around the climate and biodiversity crisis and engaging people with nature and cultural heritage.

“AONB teams are not statutory consultees on planning matters and we’d like to see this change – the decisions will of course still be made by local planning authorities. We continue to advocate for a strengthening of the ‘duty of regard’ to the purpose of AONB designation that is placed on public bodies and statutory undertakers, with this linked to strengthening the status of statutory AONB Management Plans.

“A review of governance should ensure that boards reflect the national importance of the designation whilst keeping at local level the decision making on things like the AONB Management Plan.

“The big change we need is in resourcing. Even doubling the funding for all 34 AONBs in England would still only mean the same level of total funding as the South Downs National Park alone. National Parks need more resources, but the need in AONBs is even more acute. The Glover Review called for a doubling of our Defra funding – in the case of the North Pennines from £325,000 to £650,000 a year. This would help us to keep pace with increasing costs, invest more in working with farmers and land managers to address the biodiversity crisis, and help us invest more time in generating major new projects to benefit people, places and nature. AONB teams have punched well above their weight for years but the current situation isn’t sustainable.

“We need to see Glover’s recommendation of doubling of AONB funding implemented over the life of this Parliament, and we would then look to work with Defra to develop a new progressive funding formula for all protected landscapes which reflects future needs and ambition. Money is tight of course, but it’s partly a question of priorities – the Government’s ‘Film and TV Production Restart Scheme’ scheme alone, at £500m, cost the equivalent of over 80 years of funding for all the 34 English AONBs. The case for more resourcing is a strong one given our collective track record – the North Pennines team alone has, for example, led the restoration of an area of peatland 3 x the size of Newcastle; after a Government Review and two years of deliberation, if not now, when?”

To give your views on the review as part of the consultation, please visit:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/landscapes-review-national-parks-and-aonbs-implementing-the-review