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Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Submitted by ktomkins on Wed, 30/11/2016 - 12:13

Seems to have been forgotten! The Valley put itself forward to Natural England for consideration regarding designation as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty several years ago. we submitted a great deal of high quality evidence regarding the physical status of the valley, much of this already existed in the form of things such as the SMDC Landscape CHaracter Assessment and the CVLLP development research projects, but we did a good job tying it all togather and John Higgins delivered it by hand to Natural England. Unfortunaley they ran out of money and 'closed the window' promising to reopen it in 2018. When it reopens the big question will be "Is there the desire from within the community for the Churnet Valley to be designated as an AONB?"

My opinion is that, at the moment, no.

Here is a link to a piece the BBC did last year, it includes a few of the top proponents for our valley. https://www.facebook.com/midlandstoday/videos/10153497825304761/

Comments

Submitted by Staffordshire P... on Fri, 09/12/2016 - 14:07
I have just seen a facebook advert for a destination described as being 'situated in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty' and it reminded me to come back to your blog and make a comment. You ask "Is there the desire from within the community for the Churnet Valley to be designated as an AONB?" Well we say 'yes'! At the last few SPDTA meetings we have discussed the possibility and status of the Churnet Valley becoming an AONB (officially! - we all know it is outstandingly beautiful) and as a group we are wholeheartedly committed to supporting the application. Our members are broadly described as 'businesses that benefit from tourism' and we represent the largest and the smallest businesses. Just let us know what we can do to help drive this application forward. Staffordshire Peak District Tourism Association