Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England

The rough equivalent for Scotland is the National Scenic Area designated by Scottish Natural Heritage. With the advent of devolved government for Scotland, policy and management of these areas may well differ from the situation in England.

AONBs are comparable to National parks. However, the latter have their own authorities, have special legal powers to prevent unsympathetic development, and are well known to many inhabitants of England and Wales.

By contrast, many people living in an AONB do not even realise this. There are also very limited statutory duties on local authorities to do anything in an AONB.

However, the Whitehall Government has recently said that it accepts that AONBs and National Parks should have equal status when it comes to planning consent and other sensitive issues.

AONBs vary greatly in terms of size, type and use of land, whether they are partly or wholly open to the public. Some local councils have AONB officers and other dedicated staff, others do not.

There are 36 AONBs in England. The most recent one to be set up was the Tamar Valley AONB[?] in 1994. The smallest AONB is the Isles of Scilly (1976), 16 sq. km. The largest AONB is the Cotswolds (1966), 2,038 sq km.

Full list

• Arnside and Silverdale AONB[?]
• Blackdown Hills AONB[?]
• Cannock Chase AONB[?]
• Chichester Harbour AONB[?]
• Chilterns AONB[?]
• Cornwall AONB[?]
• Cotswolds AONB[?]
• Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB[?]
• Dedham Vale AONB[?]
• Dorset AONB[?]
• East Devon AONB[?]
• East Hampshire AONB[?]
• Forest of Bowland AONB[?]
• High Weald AONB[?]
• Howardian Hills AONB[?]
• Isle of Wight AONB[?]
• Isles of Scilly AONB[?]
• Kent Downs AONB[?]
• Lincolnshire Wolds AONB[?]
• Malvern Hills AONB[?]
• Mendip Hills AONB[?]
• Nidderdale AONB[?]
• Norfolk Coast AONB[?]
• North Devon AONB[?]
• North Pennines AONB[?]
• Northumberland Coast AONB[?]
• North Wessex Downs AONB[?]
• Quantock Hills AONB
• Shropshire Hills AONB[?]
• Solway Coast AONB[?]
• South Devon[?]
• South Hampshire Coast[?]
• Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB
• Surrey Hills AONB[?]
• Sussex Downs AONB[?]
• Tamar Valley AONB[?]
• Wye Valley AONB[?] shared with Wales)

See:

• Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Wales
• Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Northern Ireland
• National Scenic Areas in Scotland
• Conservation in the United Kingdom

See also:

• List of Conservation topics
• Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA)
• Heritage Coast
• Scheduled Ancient Monument
• Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)
• Special Area of Conservation (SAC)
• Special Protection Area (SPA)
• World Heritage Site

External Links

• AONBs (http://www.aonb.org.uk)
• Countryside Agency (http://www.countryside.gov.uk/aonb/)