Inside Salisbury: Protection for areas of outstanding natural beauty

Plans to protect and conserve areas in place

By Annette J Beveridge

TWO management plans for areas of nationally important and protected landscapes have been adopted to conserve, protect and enhance them.

With a legal requirement to prepare and publish a management plan, the relevant National Landscape Boards have prepared a plan for Cranborne Chase and the Cotswolds.

Yesterday, (Tuesday, June 10) Wiltshire Council signed off on both plans to ensure both areas will be equipped to address and adapt to changes due to climate change so that wild species can thrive. These plans will also play a crucial role in informing relevant planning decisions.

Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning, Development Management and Housing, Councillor Adrian Foster, said: “We are privileged to have such beautiful landscapes on our doorstep, but this also means we have a vital responsibility as a county to play our part and ensure they are protected and enhanced for generations to come.

“We are pleased to have formally signed off on these plans, which reaffirm our collective duty to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of the National Landscape.”

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The themes for the Cranborne Chase National Landscape Plan are; conserving and enhancing, outstanding landscapes, living and working landscapes, and special landscapes to enjoy. The vision for the Cotswolds National Landscape Management Plan is aligned to three interlinked key issues: the climate emergency, nature’s decline and the ecological crisis, and health and societal changes.

Councillor Foster added: “We have worked to ensure these plans align and complement existing strategies in place, including the Local Nature Recovery Strategy, which is in the process of being finalised. We maintain a close working relationship with the National Landscape Boards and we thank them for the work they have put in to develop these thorough plans.”

The respective National Landscapes carried out engagement with key stakeholders and local communities as the plans were being developed to ensure they meet all the requirements as set out by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) – which expects plans to address four primary criteria of ‘Nature, Climate, People and Place.’

More information, including the plans, can be found here.