Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
The Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Management Plan 2011 - 2016
Managing the AONB
The Cornwall AONB Partnership and Unit
The Cornwall AONB is managed by a Partnership of 15 organisations:
CORNWALL AGRI-FOOD COUNCIL
CORNWALL ASSOCIATION OF LOCAL COUNCILS
CORNWALL COUNCIL
CORNWALL RURAL COMMUNITY COUNCIL
CORNWALL SUSTAINABLE TOURISM PROJECT (COAST)
CORNWALL WILDLIFE TRUST
COUNTRY LAND AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATION
ENGLISH HERITAGE
ENVIRONMENT AGENCY
FARMING & WILDLIFE ADVISORY GROUP (FWAG)
NATIONAL FARMERS UNION
NATIONAL TRUST
NATURAL ENGLAND
RURAL CORNWALL & ISLES OF SCILLY PARTNERSHIP (RCP)
VISITCORNWALL
The main role of the Partnership is to
plan and implement AONB management
via the AONB Management Plan. The
Partnership is constituted by a Memorandum
of Understanding and a Statement of
Intent. It meets three times a year, using
the Management Plan as a framework
around which to discuss the prioritisation
of action and the implementation of the
Plan. The Partnership also has an advisory
role, providing advice to Cornwall Council
and other organisations on issues such
as planning and development and project
development. The individual AONB Partners
lead and co-ordinate management within
their own organisations.
The Partnership is supported by a small
team of officers – the Cornwall AONB Unit.
This comprises staff with a wide range of
expertise – ecology, landscape architecture,
landscape planning, communications, project
management and administration. The Unit
exists to administer the Partnership and
enable and support partner organisations
in delivery of the Management Plan. The
AONB Unit also has specific advisory roles
regarding monitoring, communications,
planning & development and landscape
character and also administers the Cornwall
AONB Sustainable Development Fund (SDF)
providing funds for specific projects.
The Cornwall AONB Management Plan 2011-2016
The first Management Plan was adopted in 2004
and ran until 2009. It provided a framework for much
of the action taken during this period and the new
plan builds on this work. However, many things have
changed, priorities are different and new issues such
as climate change have become more pertinent.
The purpose of the Cornwall AONB Management
Plan 2011-2016 is:
• To highlight the special qualities and the enduring
significance of the AONB and the importance of its
different features
• To present an integrated vision for the future of the
AONB as a whole, in the light of national, regional
and local priorities
• To set out agreed policies incorporating specific
objectives which will help secure that vision
• To identify what needs to be done, by whom, and
when, in order to achieve these outcomes
• To state how the condition of the AONB and the
effectiveness of its management will be monitored.
The Management Plan is intended to be a shared
strategy that will be of interest to the communities,
parishes, residents, businesses, landowners and
farmers, agencies, authorities, utilities, organisations
and amenity groups operating within, or with an
interest in, the AONB.
The Management Plan has two main parts
• Strategic chapters
• Local area chapters
The strategic chapters provide the overall strategic
approach to the management of the Cornwall
AONB. They provide information on the key
environmental, social and economic management
issues relevant to the AONB as a whole. They
also examine likely landscape impacts from a
variety of forces and identify opportunities for the
management of these, setting a clear framework
of policy and action to ensure AONB purposes
can be met.
The local area chapters provide management
guidelines for the individual area components
of the Cornwall AONB and reflect local views
expressed during a comprehensive public
consultation.
The Management Plan has been produced with
a full and comprehensive programme of public
involvement and consultation. It is also supported
by a full Sustainability Appraisal (SA), incorporating
a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)
and an Appropriate Assessment, as required by
the European Habitats Directive. It is intended
that this Plan should be viewed as a spatial
planning tool and thus complementary to the
Local Development Framework (LDF), and an
enabling document to assist the delivery of actions
in partners’/stakeholders’ everyday work. It will be
accompanied and complemented by a carefully
targeted Delivery Plan, a Communications Strategy
and an annual Cornwall AONB Partnership
Business Plan.
The Cornwall AONB Atlas
The Cornwall AONB Atlas (http://www.cornwall-aonb. gov.uk/atlas/) was completed in early 2010 and is the main evidence base for the policies and actions set out within the strategic chapters of the Management Plan. The Atlas is a compendium of information on the environmental, social and economic aspects of the protected landscape and also presents the results of monitoring work that has been undertaken by the AONB Unit.
Delivery and Monitoring
This Management Plan is accompanied and
complemented by a detailed Delivery Plan which sets
out and prioritises activity over 5 years. A Cornwall
AONB Partnership Business Plan will also be
produced by the Partnership annually during the life
of the Management Plan to detail priorities for action
and resource requirements. Actions and outputs will
be measured against annual targets by all of the
AONB Partnership organisations and delivery will
be reported throughout the plan period in a series of
annual reports.
Measuring awareness of the AONB and the Cornwall
AONB Partnership and Management Plan will be part
of the communications strategy and will form part of
the communications activity. Monitoring change in
the landscape itself will be ongoing and will draw on
a number of identified indicators contained within the
Cornwall AONB Atlas.
Cornwall Council Objectives
As this Management Plan has been prepared on
behalf of Cornwall Council, it is important that it
addresses their overall environmental objectives.
For Cornwall Council, the goal of sustainable
development will be pursued by actions designed
to achieve a sustainable, innovative and productive
economy that delivers high levels of employment;
and a just society that promotes social inclusion,
sustainable communities and personal wellbeing.
This will be done in ways that protect and enhance
the physical and natural environment, and use
resources and energy as efficiently as possible.
Similar objectives will inform all endeavours with
partner organisations, with Cornwall Council
promoting sustainable solutions to our most pressing
environmental, economic and social problems.
Further Information
More information on AONBs and their status and protection can be found on the Defra web site (www.defra.gov.uk), and those of Natural England (www.naturalengland.org.uk), the National Association for AONBs (www.aonb.org.uk) and the Cornwall AONB (www.cornwall-aonb.gov.uk).