Your views are needed on area’s challenges
THE PUBLIC are being asked to give their views on how to safeguard the conservation of Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
A major consultation has begun, with postcards being sent to households asking people which key aspects they wish to protect in the AONB, and what they feel the biggest challenges are to the countryside.
The responses will help shape the management plans for the AONB for the next five years, at a time when change is coming “in a major way”, with Brexit, the Government’s 25-year environment plan, and a fresh review of protected landscapes currently underway after being commissioned by Environment Secretary Michael Gove.
The review was discussed in September at the Landscape Matters conference, hosted by the Upper Nidderdale Landscape Partnership in Pateley Bridge, when experts mapped out the challenges which protected landscapes face.
The AONB’s manager, Sarah Kettlewell, said: “Our management plan for the next five years is crucial as change is coming in a major way. Key challenges outlined in our Landscape Matters conference were uncertainty around farming post-Brexit, rural isolation, and providing opportunities to engage all generations into the rural economy.
“Add the national crisis around affordable housing and rural services and the global threat of climate change, and safeguarding our countryside has never been so vital. Despite the challenges, there’s enormous energy from people in Nidderdale to engage in and safeguard our countryside.”