The Management Plan

A shared strategy for those who live, work and visit the Cornwall National Landscape. It provides guidance to help Government, statutory organisations and any public body to ensure they are fulfilling their updated Section 85 duty to ‘seek to further the purpose of conserving and enhancing the natural beauty’ of the protected landscape.

Girls head to Porthcurnick Beach, Portscatho – Rebecca Walker

The Purpose

The Management Plan is a shared strategy for those who live, work and visit the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It provides guidance to help Government, statutory organisations and any public body to ensure they are fulfilling their Section 85* duty to ‘have regard to the purpose of conserving and enhancing the natural beauty’ of AONB.

Evening sunset - Botallack - James Reed — Evening sunset – Botallack – James Reed

The Management Plan sets out the vision of the Partnership for the Cornwall AONB and its management aims over the five-year plan period. It incorporates the Delivery Plan detailing the activities upon which the Partnership wants to collaborate across the plan.

Aligning with Global, National and Local Strategies

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.

It is important to frame the Cornwall AONB Strategy in the context
of international, national, regional and local priorities and goals.

At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership. They recognise that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.

Any reader, decision maker and user should be able to attribute and align their contributions and efforts to goals set at a global through to a local scale.

The Aims, Policies and Objectives

The Aims outline the focus of the Cornwall AONB Partnership over the next 5 years and set our intention of activity and direction of travel for the duration of this Management Plan.

The Policies outline the principles on which decisions should be made on any matters or actions which affect the AONB. They provide the decision-making framework through which to achieve the AONB Management Plan purpose. The policies have been built on an assessment of the key environmental, social and economic issues relevant to the AONB.

The Objectives provide tangible opportunities for collaboration to deliver the primary purpose, to conserve and enhance the protected landscape. The 12 Local Sections provide policies and objectives for the individual areas of the Cornwall AONB.

The aims, policies and objectives provide the overall strategic approach to the management of the Cornwall AONB.

Sunset light at Rough Tor - Myles Pinkney — Sunset light at Rough Tor – Myles Pinkney

The Management Plan is structured to be able to:

Inform and guide organisations and individuals whose work and actions impact on the AONB. In particular those who have a statutory duty to ensure that their decisions and actions contribute positively to the primary purpose of AONB: to conserve and enhance landscape and natural scenic beauty and be applied to the designated AONB sections and its setting.

Raise awareness and profile of the Cornwall AONB protected landscape

Highlight the special qualities and key landscape characteristics of each of the 12 Local Sections of the AONB
Deliver projects through collaborative initiatives
Outline the opportunities for the involvement of people living, working and visiting within the AONB to conserve and enhance its special qualities
Direct resources to deliver the AONB’s primary purpose, to conserve and enhance, to attract additional funding to maximise the benefits to the protected landscape.

The Plan operates from a strategic to local level, there are three key areas where the Plan must be influential, these being:

will influence local policy through informing other plans and strategies; ensuring that policies and decisions that will affect the AONB are developed with an understanding of the primary purpose of the designation and of how the AONB can be developed in a sustainable way; and
to inform and guide organisations and particularly those who have a statutory duty to have regard to the primary purpose in discharging their responsibilities; and
to ensure the primary purpose of the AONB is a material consideration in planning decisions

The Cornwall AONB is not a land or asset owner. We work with organisations to influence and encourage best practice and positive management of the Protected Landscape

Cornwall AONB | 12 Sections | 8 Aims | 20 Partners

The Organisation

Cornwall AONB Partnership and Executive Board

The Cornwall AONB is governed by a Partnership of 20 organisations, with each member organisation signed up to a Partnership Agreement (Memorandum of Understanding). The main role of the Partnership is to collaboratively deliver the AONB Management Plan and it meets to implement this framework.

The Cornwall AONB Executive Board are a small core group of funding partners and representatives who meet to discuss staffing, budgets and delivery.

Partners & Organisations Directory

It also has an advisory role, providing advice to Cornwall Council and other organisations on issues such as planning and project development.

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Monitoring & Evidence

Introduce KPIs and digital monitoring tools. Link to the new Monitoring hub page.

Forces for change

We are designated to conserve and enhance natural beauty, but we face significant pressures that drive landscape change. These forces are a mixture of environmental, social, economic, and policy-driven factors that alter the character, biodiversity, and community structure of these protected areas.

Forces for Change

Forces for Change – Planning

The statutory purpose of the designation is to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of the area and it enjoys the same levels of protection from development as National Parks within the UK.

To maintain Cornwall AONB’s distinctiveness, development should contribute to the sense of place; it should respond to local historical, cultural and landscape context and enhance and feel part of the existing settlement and landscape.

Inspired by the successful Dartmoor Hill Farm Project, we aim to create a similar support structure tailored to Bodmin Moor, focusing on resilience, collaboration, and practical solutions.

More details

It's all part of the plan

A shared strategy for those who live, work and visit the Cornwall National Landscape. It provides guidance to help Government, statutory organisations and any public body to ensure they are fulfilling their Section 85* duty to ‘have regard to the purpose of conserving and enhancing the natural beauty’ of the protected landscape.

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Read The Appendices

Creating the Cornwall National Landscape (AONB) Management Plan required additional information and research. In the appendices you'll be able to read more on requirements for agricultural buildings and major development in the protected landscape as well as the definition of the designation, influencing strategies and the process of creating the Management Plan.

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Additional Assessments & Screenings

As part of the process of creating the Management Plan we undertook a Habitats Regulations Assessment and a Strategic Environmental Assessment Screening Report. Any resulting recommendations were actioned in the adopted Plan.