The Live Wire



Press Release

Outstandingly Beautiful, Still Seriously Threatened

6 July 2006

‘Many Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty are under greater threat than ever before’, Tom Oliver will say in a closing speech tomorrow (Friday) to the AONB Annual Conference [1] marking 50 years since the first designation.

Responding to an address by Dr. Helen Phillips, Chief Executive designate of Natural England [2], CPRE’s [3] Head of Rural Policy Tom Oliver will set out some stark facts concerning possible future damage to some of the nation’s most precious landscapes.

  • Dorset AONB threatened by ‘Twyford Down II’, a proposal to bulldoze a major new road - the proposed Weymouth Relief Road - through the chalk hills of Hardy country and an ancient woodland;
  • the grossly irresponsible proposal by Imperial College, London to urbanise a tract of the most beautiful part of the Kent Downs AONB at Wye;
  • the ongoing threat of a new football stadium on nationally protected landscape at Falmer in the Sussex Downs AONB.

‘These are merely three of the many proposals which could destroy people’s enjoyment of our finest landscapes. Other threats include possible expansion of flight paths over our most tranquil protected landscapes.

‘In this, their 50th anniversary year, AONBs have millions of friends across the country. Their staff and local authority representatives work tirelessly on behalf of all of us. We urge the Government to honour their national commitment to protected landscapes. CPRE wishes Dr. Phillips and her Natural England team the very best of luck in fighting this cause of behalf of everyone in the country.’

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. Tom Oliver will be responding to speeches by Mr Carwyn Jones AM, Welsh Assembly Government and Dr. Helen Phillips, Chief Executive designate of Natural England. The 8th Annual Conference, 50:50 Vision, of the National Association for Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (NAANOB) is being held at Swansea University from 4 – 7 July 2006.

2. Natural England is a Non Departmental Public Body set up under the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006. Natural England takes over statutory responsibility for protecting wildlife and conserving landscapes from October 2006.

3. CPRE, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, is a charity which promotes the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England. We advocate positive solutions for the long-term future of the countryside. Founded in 1926, we have 60,000 supporters and a branch in every county. President: Sir Max Hastings. Patron: Her Majesty The Queen.



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