The Countryside and Rights of Way Act

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (CRoW) subsumes and strengthens the AONB provisions of the 1949 Act. It confirms the purpose and significance of AONBs, clarifies the procedure for their designation, and created a firm legislative basis for their designation, protection and management.

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The Countryside and Rights of Way Act

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In particular

Section 82
Reaffirms the primary purpose of AONBs: to conserve and enhance natural beauty.
Section 83
Establishes the procedure for designating or revising the boundaries of an AONB, including Natural England’s duty to consult with local authorities and to facilitate public engagement
Section 84
Confirms the powers of local authorities to take ‘all such action as appears to them expedient’ to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of an AONB and sets consultation and advice on development planning and on public access on the same basis as National Parks in the 1949 Act.
Section 85
Places a statutory duty on all ‘relevant authorities’ to ‘have regard to the purpose of conserving and enhancing the natural beauty’ of AONBs when coming to any decisions or carrying out activities relating to or affecting land within these areas. ‘Relevant authorities’ include all public bodies (including county, borough, district, parish and community councils, joint planning boards and other statutory committees); statutory undertakers (such as energy and water utilities, licensed telecommunications companies, nationalised companies such as Network Rail and other bodies established under statute responsible for railways, roads and canals); government ministers and civil servants. Activities and developments outside the boundaries of AONBs that have an impact within the designated area are also covered by the ‘duty of regard’.
Sections 86 to 88
Allow for the establishment in an AONB of a Conservation Board to which the AONB functions of the local authority (including development planning) can be transferred. Conservation Boards have the additional but secondary function of seeking to increase public understanding and enjoyment of the AONB’s special qualities. They also have an obligation to ‘seek to foster the economic and social well-being of local communities’ in co-operation with local authorities and other public bodies.
Sections 89 and 90
Create a statutory duty on all AONB partnerships (local authorities and Conservation Boards) to prepare a Management Plan ‘which formulates their policy for the management of their area of outstanding natural beauty and for the carrying out of their functions in relation to it’, and thereafter to review adopted and published Plans at intervals of not more than five years.
Section 92
Makes clear that the conservation of natural beauty includes the conservation of ‘flora, fauna and geological and physiographical features.’