Agenda item

To receive a presentation from Lisa Walker of the AbberleyHills Preservation Society.  

Members of the Abberley Hills Preservation Society (AHPS), Lisa Walker and Sarah Crabbe, attended the meeting to explain why they believed that the Malvern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty should be extended to the north, to include the area of the Abberley Hills. They were asking the AONB Partnership to support them as the applicant for the proposal.

This proposal was first raised at a meeting of the JAC in 2015. It was then raised again in 2021, at which time it was felt that the Partnership should await the Government’s response to the Glover report. That response has now been made. Lisa Walker explained that the AHPS had commissioned work which showed how the proposed area meets Natural England’s Protected Landscape Natural beauty criteria. The criteria which can be met by the Abberley Hills include:

·         Landscape with some important geological sites

·         Architecture such as dig sites and early settlements

·         History – Owain Glyndwr and Henry IV camped on Woodbury Hill

·         Ancient trees and woodland

·         Ecology such as falcons, orchids and rare butterflies.

Lisa said that the All England Strategic Landscape Mapping Tool produced by Natural England in 2022 also showed a good fit between the area being proposed and the natural beauty criteria. She suggested it would be more environmentally cohesive to extend the area of outstanding natural beauty and a co-ordinated approach would benefit the whole area. This would also appear to be in line with the Government’s Environmental Plan to protect 30% of the land t support the recovery of nature. A consultation now needed to take place and details had already gone to interested local groups and organisations, MPs, Councillors and the Campaign to Protect Rural England. After discussion, many local Parishes had indicated that they were supportive and with the pressure due to development the protection gained with AONB status would help to protect the area for future generations.

During the discussion the following points were raised:

·         It was acknowledged that members of the Committee were minded to support the proposal in the past but wanted to wait for the outcome of the Glover Review and now that it had happened it was easier to support protected landscapes.

·         From a geological point of view it was logical that the Abberley Hills were included in the Malvern Hills AONB. The Earth Heritage Trust representative thought that the Joint Advisory Committee should support the proposal.

·         The representative from Herefordshire Association of Local Councils supported the proposal but pointed out that if successful, the area may become busier with increased tourism and an increased rate of wear and tear on the countryside. Lisa Walker acknowledged that this consequence had been considered but it was believed that such an area of beauty should be shared.

·         The support of the local community was a strong argument in support of the plan.

·         The representative from the National Farmers Union could not support the proposal at this time, explaining that NFU members in the area would need to be consulted. She felt that AONB designation could lead to restrictions on development rights which might make it harder for landowners and farmers to diversify. In response it was mentioned that some grants may be available to farmers within an AONB that were not available to others (e.g. the current Farming in Protected Landscape Grant) and that a large area of the land being considered was wooded, steeply sloped or permanent pasture. It was also said that the AONB Partnership was not anti-development, but was focussed on trying to deliver good development in the right place.

·         The CPRE would welcome additional protection and would strongly support the proposal. He reminded members that until 2005 much of the area being proposed did have protections in place as an Area of Great Landscape Value.

·         It was queried whether the amount of resources/funding would increase if the size of the AONB increased and clarification was requested on this point. Paul Esrich said that he knew of one recent AONB boundary extension where resources from Defra had been increased as a result, and he expected that national resources would be made available when AONBs were expanded. At this point in time, it is unknown whether resources from local authorities covering an expanded AONB would be increased in accordance with the existing funding formula. It was pointed out that the proposal could be seen as unreasonable if the proposal could not be afforded but it was clarified that the discussion at the meeting at this time was about whether the proposal should be supported in principle.

·         It was queried whether there were other areas around the current or proposed boundary of the AONB which should be included in the proposal to extend the AONB.

RESOLVED that the Committee:

a)     Discussed the proposal to extend the AONB; and

b)     Considered whether the AONB Partnership should support this work going forward as the applicant and apart from the National Farmers Union who wanted to consult with members (see above), all other representatives supported the proposal.