THE TAMAR Valley AONB team has welcomed a commitment from the Government to look at strengthening the clout and boosting the financial resources of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England and Wales.

The Government was responding last week to Julian Glover’s Landscapes Review looking at the future of national parks and AONBs.

It took on board Glover’s suggestion that resources for the 34 AONBs should be boosted to the same level as the ten national parks.

It is also proposing to rename the AONBs ‘National Landscapes’.

Defra minister the Rt Hon Lord Benyon said: ‘We agree that the national significance of our AONBs should be reflected in their name. We are currently working with the National Association for AONBs to identify the best way to exemplify the values which underpin this renewed family of protected landscapes in their branding.

‘As part of that work, we are testing the proposal to rename AONBs as National Landscapes. Any name change must represent a step change for AONB teams with the ambitious new title encompassing new purposes delivered by skilled teams, sustainable funding and robust governance. Pulled together as a package these proposals have the potential to deliver a transformational approach to AONB leadership and management.’

Tamar Valley AONB manager Dan Cooke said: ‘We welcome the Government’s full response to the Landscapes Review and the 12-week consultation on some of the key changes proposed.

‘There are now some excellent opportunities to strengthen the purposes, powers and resources of AONBs. These could help to ‘level up’ AONBs (or National Landscapes) with the UK’s National Parks, in order to further protect and enhance our treasured landscapes like the Tamar Valley, which are so vitally important for people, communities and wildlife.’

Mr Cooke added that the Tamar Valley AONB shared the view of the the National Association of AONBs, that the name change to Nationall Landscapes needed to be backed up with more money and resources.

The AONBs had been asking for a formal role in planning and development management, as national parks do at present. Dartmoor National Park Authority decides planning applications, for instance, whereas the Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty merely give a view.

With regard to resources, the National Association of AONBs also back Glover’s request of ‘a doubling of core funding’, calling for their funding to be doubled over the current three years of this parliament ‘as an immediate fix’ while the future situation is worked out with Defra.

The association approves of the decision to change the name of AONBs ‘as National Landscapes may help more people to better understand why they are important and what we do’.

Glover and a panel of experts were commissioned by the Government to come up with ideas for a way forward for national parks and AONBs.