The
Surrey Hills AONB was only the second landscape to be designated in England and the boundary had not been reviewed since its original designation in 1958. Significant parts of the adjacent countryside outside the AONB
had been designated as Areas of Great Landscape Value
(AGLV) and the Surrey Hills Board felt this area
was now worthy of review.
The AONB
Partnership commissioned landscape consultants Hankinson Duckett Associates
(HDA) to conduct a search
for areas that might be considered for re-designation as AONB. The first stage was to review the
Surrey Landscape Character Assessment ‘The future of Surrey’s landscape and
woodlands’ from 1997. This would bring it in to line with current Natural
England character assessment guidance of 2002 and create a framework for
evaluation as recommended by the earlier consultants Alison Farmer Associates.
Landscape character assessment is a systematic way of analysing the elements
that make one area of landscape different in character to another, but makes no
judgment on landscape quality.
The
second stage was to conduct a search within this framework, looking for
candidate areas that met the criteria which contribute to natural beauty as
set out in the current Natural England Guidance published in March 2011.
In
November 2013, the Surrey Hills AONB Board formally submitted a request that
Natural England (NE) consider a modification to the AONB boundary based
on 38 candidate areas recommended by HDA. Nutfield Ridge was included in the suggested boundary revision. In February 2014, the NE Board agreed
to consider the evidence submitted on the candidate areas.
The
formal process for seeking a modification requires an assessment by NE to
determine if the candidate areas submitted meet the statutory criteria of an
AONB. There are various stages to
go through, including regulatory assessments and, ultimately, the decision
rests with the Environment Secretary. Unfortunately, NE had already committed to deliver
the Suffolk Coast & Heaths AONB boundary review at the time of their Board’s
decision to review the Surrey Hills situation.
Due to the complexity of the process they were therefore unable to commence
the Surrey Hills review until completion of the Suffolk review.
The NE Board finally approved the Suffolk Coast
and Heaths (Designation Variation) Order 2019 on 22 July 2019 and the legal
paperwork was submitted to the Secretary of State for confirmation. The
Secretary of State confirmed the Order on 7 July 2020, which clears the way for
the Surrey Hills AONB boundary review to proceed to the next stage.
See > Surrey Hills boundary-review
with recommended additional areas
