Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Overview

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Northern Ireland and AONB designation intended to protect.

What you need to know

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Questions from this subtopic

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1. 1

   What is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty?

   Model answer

   A large area of countryside designated because of the outstanding quality and distinctive character of its landscape, so that its natural beauty can be conserved and enhanced. Unlike a scientific site designation, it protects scenery, landscape character and the setting of settlements and heritage across a whole tract of country, and the land within it stays in ordinary private ownership and continues to be farmed and lived in.

2. 2

   Who designates AONBs in Northern Ireland?

   Model answer

   The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, through the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, under Northern Ireland amenity lands and nature conservation legislation. Designation is therefore a central government decision, while day-to-day planning control within the AONB rests with the district council, which must have regard to the designation when it prepares its plan and decides applications.

3. 3

   Name the Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Northern Ireland.

   Model answer

   There are eight: the Mournes, the Antrim Coast and Glens, the Causeway Coast, Binevenagh, the Sperrins, the Ring of Gullion, Strangford and Lecale, and the Lagan Valley. Between them they cover a substantial share of Northern Ireland's land area and include most of its best-known upland, coastal and river-valley scenery.

4. 4

   What is an AONB designation intended to protect?

   Model answer

   The natural beauty of the landscape: its scenic quality, landform and skylines, the pattern of fields, hedgerows and stone walls, woodland and water, coastline, tranquillity and dark skies, distinctive vernacular buildings and settlement pattern, and the cultural heritage and land-management traditions that created the landscape. Conserving wildlife and geology, and providing for quiet enjoyment of the countryside, are supported as part of conserving that character rather than being the primary purpose.

5. 5

   What does AONB status restrict?

   Model answer

   It does not ban development, but it raises the bar for it. AONB status is a material consideration in planning decisions, so applications are judged against stricter policies on siting, scale, design, materials, colour, boundary treatment and landscaping, and are assessed for their effect on landscape character and views. Large, prominent or industrial-scale proposals such as wind farms, masts, quarries and major housing schemes are much more likely to be refused or heavily conditioned, and permitted development rights may be more tightly drawn. Ordinary farming operations, however, are largely outside planning control, so an AONB has limited power over agricultural change.

6. 6

   How does an AONB differ from an ASSI?

   Model answer

   An AONB is a large landscape designation covering whole tracts of countryside and protecting scenic quality and character; it works mainly by influencing planning decisions and does not control farming operations. An ASSI is a small site designation protecting specific habitats, species, geological or landform features of scientific importance; within its boundary it requires the owner to obtain consent for named potentially damaging operations, including farming operations, and damage is a criminal offence. AONBs are broad but comparatively weak per hectare; ASSIs are narrow but strong. The two overlap, and an ASSI often lies inside an AONB.

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