National Issues: Local Solutions

The programme for the 13th Annual Conference of The National Association of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty was based around the way collaborative working by AONB partnerships could provide local solutions to national issues.

With the conference being hosted by the three Cornish AONBs, it was appropriate that it started with a thoughtful video message from the Prince of Wales. The programme was then developed through a series of speakers, a variety of field trips and six workshops developing the themes explored on the field trips.

An early speaker, welcoming us to Cornwall, said that the new Unitary Council recognised the economic benefit of impressive cliffs, ancient moorland, rolling pastureland and fabulous islands. Not surprisingly, many others agreed that quality landscapes provided economic and ecosystem assets that must be looked after by the local communities. These assets would then attract those who appreciated land and seascapes. The head of ‘Visit Cornwall’ talked of sensitive exploration, of enjoying the great outdoors and of creating lifelong memories of special destinations

The Chief Executive of the Campaign to Protect Rural England maintained that although some saw planning as the last outpost of Albanian Communism, the present threats to the planning system were profound and his message to the Government was that AONBs and the wider countryside needed continued protection. The Chairman of Natural England emphasised that its statutory duties, based on science and understanding, remained the same despite DEFRA’s new role as sponsor of the AONBs. He claimed that DEFRA has the most important agenda in all Government and that few businesses delivered such economic benefit as AONBs.

My field trip involved exploration around the Fal. In the morning our main guide was Tim Light, an enlightened entrepreneur who has developed Fal river links, co-ordinating a network of ferries, buses, cycle routes and footpaths. The estuary is both the third largest natural deep water harbour in the world and a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) by virtue of its beds of maerl, a rare calcareous seaweed, and of eelgrass, both of which provide homes for brightly coloured sea slugs, cuttlefish and sea horses. There was therefore much discussion about the new marine planning system, while the way that very large expensive houses had intruded into the river landscape made one wonder about the efficacy of planning on land.

Travel by boat had certainly turned into a treat when we arrived at Trelissick Gardens for lunch and heard something of The National Trust’s ‘Going Local’ strategy and its close co-operation with the AONB’s and County Council.

Onwards, as rain began, to the Roseland Peninsula, via the new £2.8 million King Harry chain ferry which has cut emissions by 75%, has minimal environmental impact and saved five million car miles a year. At St. Just, in the AONB, we heard how a Community Land Trust is enabling eight local families to self-build affordable, in perpetuity, houses.

Because of the rain we abandoned our coastal walk to St. Mawes when we would have learned more about the National Trust’s approach to Integrated Landscape Management. Instead we retreated to The National Maritime Museum for a guided tour and evening meal. The iconic building, opened in 1996 as part of Falmouth’s regeneration initiative, is, like so many museums, heavily dependent on volunteers.

At the end of our workshop the next day, when considering business opportunities in AONBs, we decided that iconic landscapes were brands and assets, that protected landscapes should personalise localities and experience, emphasising local people in the local landscape, and that AONBs are places to do business as enhancers rather than as barriers to talent. As the National Association said before the conference, ‘it will be clear that AONBs are locally managed, nationally important and deal with global issues. Or, as a Senior Executive of Cornwall said: ‘The environment is Cornwall and communities are the catalyst for effective change’.