Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (UK)

An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is land protected by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (CROW Act). It protects the land to conserve and enhance its natural beauty.[1]

An AONB is an area of countryside in England, Wales or Northern Ireland which has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of their national importance, by the relevant public body: Natural England, Natural Resources Wales, or the Northern Ireland Environment Agency. In place of AONB, Scotland uses the similar national scenic area (NSA) designation. Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty enjoy levels of protection from development similar to those of UK National Parks, but unlike with national parks the responsible bodies do not have their own planning powers. They also differ from National Parks in their more limited opportunities for extensive outdoor recreation.

Sources for Boundary Routes

2018

Natural England: locked up in ArgGIS Online? http://naturalengland-defra.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/areas-of-outstanding-natural-beauty-england

Natural Resources Wales: geojson and shpfile, copyright Natural Resources Wales and OS http://lle.gov.wales/catalogue/item/ProtectedSitesAreasOfOutstandingNaturalBeauty/?lang=en

Northern Ireland Environment Agency geojson and shpfile, OGL https://data.gov.uk/dataset/f803cb72-e3d2-44df-8a0c-19a496bd7a5d/areas-of-outstanding-natural-beauty

2012

AONBs are created by a document known as Designation Order, which includes an OS map with the boundary marked on it. The boundaries may be amended by subsequent orders. We presumably can't use these maps where they are still in copyright, but the Crown Copyright only lasts for 50 years, so the designation orders for any AONBs that were created more than 50 years ago, and haven't been modified since are fine to use. Natural England probably holds copies of all the orders, so we should be able to request them using the Freedom of Information Act.

user:rjw62 successfully made a request for a copy of the Malvern Hills Designation Order . It would appear that, at least in this case, the boundary tends to run along the side of roads, rather than down their centrelines.

List of AONBs

AONBs in bold are not yet mapped (or parts are not yet mapped)

AONB Country Created Boundary Relation Complete Notes
Arnside and SilverdaleEngland1972relation 9310559
Blackdown HillsEngland1991relation 7072146
Cannock ChaseEngland1958relation 9335891
Chichester HarbourEngland1964relation 9336138
ChilternsEngland1964relation 7129946
CornwallEngland1959relation 3126721
CotswoldsEngland1966relation 166570100%Some sections guesswork
Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire DownsEngland1983relation 2664452
Dedham ValeEngland1970relation 9336585
DorsetEngland1959relation 9310601
East Devon AONBEngland1963relation 7527203
Forest of BowlandEngland1964relation 6402472
High WealdEngland1983relation 8815682
Howardian HillsEngland1987relation 383665
Isle of WightEngland1963relation 10097270
Isles of ScillyEngland1976relation 9336696
Kent DownsEngland1968relation 10601794
Lincolnshire WoldsEngland1973relation 3317398
Malvern HillsEngland1959relation 233879100%Designation order used to determine route
Mendip HillsEngland1989relation 3643754
NidderdaleEngland1994relation 6540319
Norfolk CoastEngland1968relation 9471593
North DevonEngland1960relation 9452837
North PenninesEngland1988relation 6576894
North Wessex DownsEngland1972relation 2904192
Northumberland CoastEngland1958relation 10037468
Quantock HillsEngland1956relation 1916427100%Designation Order used to determine route
Shropshire HillsEngland1959relation 9447287
Solway CoastEngland1964relation 9346927
South DevonEngland1960relation 10796363
Suffolk Coast and HeathsEngland1970relation 9456324Expansion (relation 10782441) submitted for approval not yet given.
Surrey HillsEngland1958relation 7640939
Tamar ValleyEngland1995relation 10773241
Wye ValleyEngland and Wales1971relation 9629559
AngleseyWalesrelation 10676742
Clwydian Range and Dee ValleyWalesrelation 10757713
Gower PeninsulaWales1956relation 10724536
Llŷn PeninsulaWalesrelation 10724031
Antrim Coast and GlensNorthern Irelandrelation 1430481
BinevenaghNorthern Irelandrelation 1429007
Causeway CoastNorthern Irelandrelation 1430482100%
Lagan ValleyNorthern Irelandrelation 9814856
Mourne and Slieve CroobNorthern Irelandrelation 1426740
Ring of GullionNorthern Irelandrelation 1426744
SperrinsNorthern Irelandrelation 1429005100%
Strangford & LecaleNorthern Irelandrelation 1428604100%

National Scenic Areas (NSA) (Scotland only )

NSA Boundary Relation Complete Notes
Assynt-Coigach
Ben Nevis and Glen Coe
Cairngorm Mountainswithin Cairngorms National Park
Cuillin Hills
Deeside and Lochnagarwithin Cairngorms National Park
Dornoch Firth
East Stewartry Coast
Eildon and Leaderfood
Fleet Valley
Glen Affric
Glen Strathfarrar
Hoy and West Mainland
Jura
Kintail
Knapdale
Knoydart
Kyle of Tongue
Kyles of Bute
Loch Lomondwithin Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park
Loch na Keal, Isle of Mull
Loch Rannoch and Glen Lyon
Loch Shiel
Loch Tummel
Lynn of Lorn
Morar, Moidart and Ardnamurchan
North Arran
Nith Estuary
North West Sutherland
River Earn (Comrie to St Fillans)
River Tay (Dunkeld)
Scarba, Lunga and the Garvellachs
Shetland
Small Islesrelation 284135
South Lewis, Harris and North Uist
South Uist Machairrelation 9201859
St Kildarelation 9258472
The Trossachswithin Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park
Trotternish
Upper Tweeddale
Wester Ross

Wikipedia link: Category:National scenic areas of Scotland

Tagging

How to tag AONBs has been a source of some dispute. The Cotswold AONB was initially tagged as follows.

type=boundary + boundary=national_park + name=*

However this has been considered by some to be inappropriate as it fails to differentiate national parks from AONBs.

All AONBs now use boundary=protected_area, rather than boundary=national_park, with protect_class=5 as well as designation=area_of_outstanding_natural_beauty and protection_title=area_of_outstanding_natural_beauty

NSAs to be tagged similarly: boundary=protected_area, designation=national_scenic_area, protect_class=5 and protection_title=national_scenic_area

  1. ↑ “Areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONBs): designation and management - GOV.UK”. Retrieved 13 December 2018. 
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