Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Wales

There are five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs)[b] in Wales, known from November 2023 as National Landscapes (Welsh: Tirwedd Cenedlaethol).

[1] AONBs are areas of countryside that have been designated for statutory protection, due to their significant landscape value, by initially the Government of the United Kingdom and later Welsh devolved bodies.

These areas were selected for their "outstanding landscape beauty" and home to "great scientific interest", which was deemed worthy of protection and management through statutory designation.

[9] The Clwydian Range was designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1985 by the Secretary of State for Wales Nicholas Edwards MP; with proposals to extend it to the Dee Valley by the Countryside Council for Wales and local councils announced in 2010,[10] and approved in November 2011 expanding the AONB to become the current Clwydian Range and Dee Valley.

[13] The Sandford Principle was also recommended to be retained in the review, which confirms the primacy of conservation in the AONBs should conflict with other duties arise.

[15] Lesley Griffiths AM, then Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs, would describe the crux of the report to be the promotion of the authorities' duty to consider the socio-economic well-being of the AONBs.

[16] The Marsden review also recommended that the Welsh Government empower AONBs and national parks to become centres of innovation and a catalyst for development for regions of rural Wales, but within the designated landscapes' "environmental limits", and to set performance targets for the managing bodies of the designated landscapes.

[15] Other recommendations in the report include: extending AONB boundaries to cover adjacent sea areas, reducing the regulatory burden of audit, creation of bodies (including a National Landscape Committee, National Partnership Board and Local Partnerships), the introduction of a Partnership Plan for each area, remove the political balance requirement on AONB boards (revised to have local authority, national and “local” appointees allocated proportionally), and finally provide a core grant from Welsh Government for all designated landscape areas (whilst increasing scrutiny and diversity of their overall revenue budget through pan-Wales strategy using indicators and targets).

[20] Black also questioned how redesignating would work on the Wye Valley AONB, shared with England where renaming may not be applied.

[16] It set out a new plan for AONBs and National Parks, advocating that they should go beyond their current duties for improving conservation and amenities, by becoming "drivers" of sustainable natural resource management (as set out in Welsh legislation), provide a benefit for the wider public and private within and beyond their designated areas, realising the economic potential of local communities, promote green growth and ecosystem resilience.

[14] Following publication, Lesley Griffiths, then Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs, thanked the group for their work, and stated that "the next step is to deliver against the ambition, not in isolation, but together as part of the collaborative approach".

[14] Critics of the report state that, it fails to mention the "Sandford Principle" which was a key recommendation in the Marsden review.

The panel concluded, that if the report's recommendations are acted upon, it would be "impossible for the panel to continue to accord international recognition to Wales’s national parks and AONBs as protected areas", and that Wales' National Parks and AONBs would be less protected and weaker than those designated in the rest of the United Kingdom.

[25][26] In March 2018, Minister for Environment Hannah Blythyn AM stated no changes were to be made on how AONBs operate in Wales.

Local authorities or joint committees are required to notify NRW when they are intending to publish their management plan.

The same act places a duty on public bodies; including private utility companies to respect efforts made to conserve, protect, and enhance the AONB's natural beauty.