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The wonderful long-distance footpath that follows the river through the Ouse Valley in Cambridgeshire is one of our greatest assets. The Great Ouse Valley Trust has already replaced the information boards, with the assistance of Highways England and the County Council, but keeping the path clear and safe is not quite so straightforward. Graham Campbell, Chair of the Trust, explains why.

The new A14 has undoubtedly brought many benefits in reducing car journey times. However, it has also had a hugely detrimental impact on one of the most tranquil and beautiful stretches of our Ouse Valley Way footpath.

Much of the section between Brampton and Buckden and Offord Cluny is now dominated by the inevitable noise and visual impact of the new road. A really pressing concern is that the river bank immediately beneath the elevated road is now collapsing into the water. In the darkness of the undercroft the vegetation that once kept the riverbank stable has died and disappeared. National Highways has done its best to tidy up this area but has yet to find any funding for a long-term solution to this potentially dangerous situation. The cost of reinforcing the river bank is small in comparison to the huge cost of the A14 project as a whole. The trustees continue to press for a speedy resolution because, although we are keen to encourage families and individuals to explore our wonderful riverside footpath, we must also ensure it is safe.

Volunteers can do only so much. To ensure public safety here needs the heavy machinery of the responsible bodies.    PHOTOGRAPH BY GOVT

Keeping the footpath accessible throughout the year is in fact one of our major concerns. Although the County Council continues to carry out major repair works, severe funding restrictions over the last 12 years have meant it is no longer able to maintain its footpaths as it would wish, and it has sought support from town and parish councils to carry out the more basic tasks.

During the last two summers the Great Ouse Valley Trust has attempted to coordinate volunteers from our Partner Members to go out and clear nettles and brambles to keep the path open. This has been a great effort with much success but the size of the task was such that some sections of the path nevertheless still became too overgrown for easy access.

The Ouse Valley Way was set out in the 1990s and runs for 151 miles from Syresham in Northamptonshire all the way to The Wash at Kings Lynn. Arguably the section through Cambridgeshire is the finest part. Let’s be proud of our beautiful local countryside and do everything we can to value it.


The Great Ouse Valley Trust promotes for public benefit the conservation, restoration and enjoyment of the landscape, wildlife and heritage of the Great Ouse Valley and environs in the county of Cambridgeshire. For more information about the Trust please visit http://greatousevalleytrust.org.uk and follow us on Facebook.

In the Great Ouse Valley we are fortunate to be surrounded by beautiful countryside. And this means that while we sleep, the wildlife also enjoys our gardens – sometimes to our dismay! Here Bridget Flanagan, from the Great Ouse Valley Trust, describes some of her own experiences.

 

Badger

You will either love a garden visit from a Badger, or rue his voracious appetite.
Photograph by Nigel Sprowell


We are very keen on drawing up boundaries and delineating spaces – but nature and wildlife pay them little regard. We generally think of our settlements of town and village as being separate from the countryside. But are we deluding ourselves? If there are attractive opportunities, nature and the inhabitants of the countryside are very keen to come in – and quickly do. Some of them are with us all the time although we may not see them.

We go to great lengths to invite some wildlife to visit our garden spaces – while simultaneously doing our utmost to keep others out. Almost all birds are welcome, and the nation spends fortunes buying food to entice them nearer. Rabbits, on the other hand, are certainly not on our guest list. And then there’s the rest of the visitors, mostly nocturnal, who come uninvited and unannounced – some who leave little trace, and others who disregard house rules, treat the place as their own and leave a mess.

So who are these night visitors? It is a delight to be sitting in the garden, as dusk falls on a warm summer evening, and watch bats darting at insects, or be gradually aware of a hedgehog shuffling in the shadows. The foxes are everywhere. Only a garden ‘militarised’ zone might make them cautious: a quick tour of neighbourhood plots is just their regular evening jaunt.

Food is the big attraction and the wildlife visitors see our gardens as repositories of juicy, tender offerings, often beautifully presented and in great abundance. Easier than having to forage in a hedgerow. The Muntjac deer – seemingly ubiquitous – find the flowers of winter pansies to be irresistible, and even more so when conveniently planted in a pot at head-height. The buds of tulips are a special delicacy, as are the soft shoots of young rose stems and leaves. A recent arrival in my garden is the Badger who takes deep gouges out of the lawn to find grubs and worms. He couldn’t believe his luck when he came across new plantings of crocus and scilla bulbs, so he unearthed and ate the lot. And an even bigger mammal, with a larger appetite, has now appeared. As I returned home one evening last week my car headlights shone on two Roe deer in the front garden. We stared at each other in astonishment, and then they were gone. No doubt they will be back. Whose garden is it anyway?

The Great Ouse Valley Trust promotes for public benefit the conservation, restoration and enjoyment of the landscape, wildlife and heritage of the Great Ouse Valley and environs in the county of Cambridgeshire. For more information about the Trust please visit http://greatousevalleytrust.org.uk and follow us on Facebook.

TALES FROM THE RIVERBANK
A regular series of stories from the Great Ouse Valley Trust.

BIGGEST REED BED!
We are so lucky. Why? Well, less than a ten-minute drive away (6 miles), to Earith, a wetland reserve is being created that will be larger than any other in the country. It is commonly accepted now that if nature conservation in the UK has any chance of succeeding, it has to be on a big scale. In our area we can feel we are showing the way!

And now, it is much easier for you to see for yourselves. The new entrance is a right turn soon after Hermitage Marina on the Shelford Road to Willingham (B1050). There you will find good parking, signage, picnic tables, trails and viewpoints. And a breath-taking landscape. Waving reed beds and meres stretch into the distance as far as you can see. This is how the Fens must have appeared before they were drained. And this is only the half-way stage of the project – another 15 years to go!

Ouse Fen

 

Why is this important? Wildlife habitats are under enormous pressure with many species now endangered from the increasing demands of our growth and development. But wildlife is important too and so we need to balance both needs to ensure a healthy environment for us all. The restoration of wetlands by the RSPB as Hanson extracts the sand and gravel is part of this process. And it is working. Many bird species once common here are now returning in numbers – Bittern, Bearded Tit, Marsh Harrier, Little, Great and Cattle Egrets, for example, plus thousands of wintering waterfowl. Otters too have discovered the area.

Even the humble Starling puts on a show. Vast flocks swoop in to weave fantastic shapes in the sky at dusk before settling into the reeds to roost. This is happening now so pop in (it’s free) about half-an-hour before sunset and marvel at one of the wonders of the natural world – just down the road!

We are fortunate to have opportunities like this in our beautiful Great Ouse Valley. If you are interested in the Trust you can visit www.greatousevalleytrust.org.uk and follow us on Facebook.



A family business chalks up 75 years on the river Great Ouse. Ian Jackson, of the Great Ouse Valley Trust, has the story.



When Laurie Jones and his wife Nora converted a wartime landing craft into a houseboat on the banks of the Great Ouse on the meadows at Hartford in 1946, they must have had an inkling that the river offered an opportunity for their future. The 1947 floods surely tested their resolve but, undaunted, they rented a cowshed, previously used as a fire station, and established a business hiring out punts, converting lifeboats and building other assorted river craft. From this humble beginning it is wonderful to now acknowledge that Jones’ Boatyard, a third generation family business, is believed to be the oldest inland marina, brokerage and chandlery in the country!

In 1958 the couple and young family acquired a disused gravel pit alongside St Ives Lock and, after subduing the overgrown thorny wilderness, they built a workshop with living accommodation above, and established moorings. This is still the site of the business today. Back then, and along with a small hire fleet of three boats, Laurie designed and built motor cruisers assisted by son Mick. Later, throughout the 70s, Mick became a boat builder in his own right and his skills can still be admired today in three craft – now classics - that continue to grace the river – Tangle, Fair Wind and Eastmoor, each with a proud owner!

In 2005 Mick’s sons, Ben and Sam, became the third generation to join the yard. They soon set about modernising the moorings and expanding the business by adding a new separate marina just below the lock. This has been done sensitively with landscaped banks planted with characteristic riverside flora that now attracts a wealth of wildlife.

The enduring success of this family firm of course reflects the booming interest in the recreational opportunities offered by the river, and the beauty of the Great Ouse Valley itself, but it is also a testament to an exceptional record for customer service. And as Partner Members of the Trust we are pleased to have the support of LH Jones and Son for the work we do in promoting and protecting the Ouse Valley landscape.

The Jones Family

The Jones family celebrates the company achievement. Mick and Carol his wife are centre right, with Ben centre and Sam to his right, surrounded by grandsons and granddaughters – a new generation in waiting perhaps.    Photograph by Gilly Jackson


The Great Ouse Valley Trust promotes for public benefit the conservation, restoration and enjoyment of the landscape, wildlife and heritage of the Great Ouse Valley and environs in the county of Cambridgeshire. For more information about the Trust please visit:

http://www.greatousevalleytrust.org.uk

The Great Ouse Valley Trust welcomes local naturalist Jim Stevenson as a contributor to our regular column. Here he describes how our river valley is used as a migration route for a wide range of wildlife but in particular by spectacular birds from Scandinavia - Redwings.


As I write it is late at night and I can hear a rustling, rattling whistling sound overhead, like a bike race in the sky. There are shadows flitting across the moon, though it’s not even Halloween yet. Soon after sun-up the half-lit sky is crowded with squadrons of starling-sized birds that weren’t here yesterday. It’s mid-October and the big autumn migration has really kicked off. This is the time when all the Scandinavian thrushes and blackbirds head our way in search of berries. In their thousands they lift off around sunset and cross the Danish coast at Heligoland where there is a bird-ringing station. They arrive on our east coast on a broad front. The coastal nature reserves in Lincolnshire and Norfolk are good places to greet them as they come in low over the water and drop into the bushes for a rest and a meal. As you read this, they should be widely scattered throughout our area - look for groups of large, well-marked thrushes in fields and bushes.

The Jones Family

Redwings in their thousands arrive to feast on our autumn berries
PHOTOGRAPH BY NIGEL SPROWELL

Early in October I found two ‘pathfinder’ Redwings at Grafham Water where they were eating blackberries and drinking at a puddle. Then, on the 13th, I woke to see hundreds of them streaming over Brampton. Later in the morning more flocks passed overhead; mostly Redwings but with a few larger Fieldfares among them.

At night these birds use the stars to navigate but by day they follow features like ridges and river valleys. They even follow railway lines, probably because the embankments are often covered with berry-bearing bushes. The Great Ouse provides an obvious route inland from The Wash, not just for land birds but also for wetland birds such as ducks, geese, swans and waders. And it’s not just birds either; there are migratory fish such as Eels, and Common Seals can follow them as far upstream as Bedford. You can find Otter droppings by any weir or bridge along the entire length of the river. I have even seen butterflies migrating along the railway line that follows the Ivel/Ouse valley between Biggleswade and Huntingdon. People use that route too, and have done for centuries.

The valley itself was created by a series of glaciers, the largest of which pushed south all the way to Stevenage. This explains the route of the Great Northern Railway, and the Great North Road, but not the Roman route of Ermine Street that also left London but stuck to the higher ground before crossing the Great Ouse at Godmanchester en route to the Roman hub at Castor (near Peterborough) and beyond to Lincoln and York. The abandoned ‘ghost villages’ along the valley around Little Paxton may attest to the story that the plague travelled this way too.

The Great Ouse Valley Trust promotes for public benefit the conservation, restoration and enjoyment of the landscape, wildlife and heritage of the Great Ouse Valley and environs in the county of Cambridgeshire. For more information about the Trust please visit:

http://www.greatousevalleytrust.org.uk

Celia Woolley pulls on her boots for two charities

It was on June 4th 2020, my 53rd birthday, when I first had a spark of the idea. I was walking along the bank of the Great Ouse at Paxton Pits Nature Reserve. The variety of colours of the trees lining the opposite side of the riverbank made lovely green rippling reflections in the river, and a long line of lily pads floated on the water. I was quite simply overwhelmed by a feeling of joy and tranquillity at the beautiful view of so many hues of green.

And then I spotted it - an Ouse Valley Way waymaker with an emblem of two swans. I thought how lovely it would be to walk the whole of the Ouse Valley Way along beautiful riverbanks like these. I decided there and then that I would do this, but I had no idea where it started or even finished! When I got home, after researching online, I discovered it was a 150-mile long-distance footpath starting at Syresham in Northamptonshire and ending at Kings Lynn in Norfolk. I also found there were no guidebooks for the walk and so I thought why not write one as I’m walking along? I told family and friends about my idea and so there was no going back – it had to be put into reality.

Just over a year later, on August 14th 2021, the day arrived for me to be dropped off at Syresham and walk to Buckingham. Little did I realise that within a couple of hours I would lose the footpath signs and get lost, walking around in a circle and nearly returning to where I had just started!

My journey so far along this famous long-distance footpath has been very varied in many unexpected ways, and I have had to amend my carefully planned daily schedule - overgrown footpaths, fallen trees and even cattle not letting me past, have all contributed to the challenges I have faced. But I have been blessed with perfect walking weather, with very little rain. And there have been many beautiful places along the walk to which I will return one day. The amazingly high Cosgrove Iron Trunk Aqueduct carrying the Grand Union Canal over the Great Ouse at Milton Keynes, the pretty Holy Well at Stevington, Bedfordshire, and Bury (Berry) Fen Nature Reserve at Earith, Cambridgeshire, are just three of my new favourites – thank you Ouse Valley Way! And I hope there are more to come …

Photograph by Laura Woolley

 

Celia contemplates the serenity of the Ouse Valley Way

Celia is raising funds for Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Association (PSPA) and the Great Ouse Valley Trust (GOVT). Visit her Just Giving page ‘Celia Walks the Ouse Valley Way’ and follow her on Instagram walking_the_river_great_ouse.

The Great Ouse Valley Trust promotes for public benefit the conservation, restoration and enjoyment of the landscape, wildlife and heritage of the Great Ouse Valley and environs in the county of Cambridgeshire. For more information about the Trust please visit www.greatousevalleytrust.org.uk

 

It’s that time of year and Bridget Flanagan of the Great Ouse Valley Trust describes a continuing local tradition.

While the sun shines – our photograph depicts an idyllic July scene along the Great Ouse: visiting cruisers and narrow boats moor alongside Noble’s Field, sculling boats from St Ives Rowing Club enjoy the early evening, and runners and picnic groups can be seen along the river bank. And among all this leisure, there is the urgent work of making hay. The flower-rich meadow grass is ready to be cut when the leaves are tall and the seed heads not over ripe. Once cut it needs lots of sun to ‘cure’ it, then after a day or two it is turned to ensure it dries evenly. More drying, then it is raked into rows to be baled, loaded on to wagons and taken to dry storage. The hay from Hemingford Meadow is sold at the St Ives Straw and Hay Auction in January. Prior to the auction, buyers from Newmarket, Wales, London and across the country visit the barns to assess the quality of the hay. Most are buying hay for horses; they are regular customers who value this meadow hay with its sweet smell and silky texture.

On Portholme Meadow, in the parish of Brampton, the hay is cut by several farmers. The meadow is now owned by the London Anglers’ Association and in a centuries-old tradition it is divided, according to a map of 1772, into many parcels of land. These ‘hay lots’, which include the right for aftermath grazing by sheep and cattle, are auctioned on the Wednesday nearest to June 15th at The George Hotel, Huntingdon (but by internet, in the Covid years of 2020 and 2021). When the hay is ready to be cut, a local farmer marks out the meadow into individual lots by cutting ‘roadways’ - one width along each boundary - and receives that hay as payment for the work.

Modern hay making is entirely mechanised and uses ever bigger, and faster machines. A far cry from the days when teams of men and women laboriously scythed, turned, raked and tossed the hay. But successful hay making is always reliant on the weather – and some years may be unlucky with rain which can spoil or even ruin the crop. Hence these July days have been busy. They are the culmination of the traditional cycle of management of the meadows: grazing by animals in the autumn and early winter, storing of winter flood waters, then ablaze with flowers in the wonderful weeks of May. So - make hay while the sun shines.


Making hay on Hemingford Meadow

Photograph by Alan Bennett at Media Imaging Solutions. We acknowledge permission for photography from L. Radford Esq and for assistance with research from Dr Pat Doody


The Great Ouse Valley Trust promotes for public benefit the conservation, restoration and enjoyment of the landscape, wildlife and heritage of the Great Ouse Valley and environs in the county of Cambridgeshire. For more information about the Trust please visit www.greatousevalleytrust.org.uk

 

Back in March we reported that as part of the Great Ouse Valley Trust’s work to replace all of the information boards through Cambridgeshire, a new one would be created for Huntingdon. We are delighted to report that it is now installed and to be found where the long-distant footpath arrives at Bromholme Lane from Buckden Marina, and then turns right into Portholme Meadow. The new panel tempts walkers to try the circular walk by continuing down the Lane into Hinchingbrooke Country Park. From there it details a route via Hinchingbrooke House into the town centre, before re-joining the Ouse Valley Way via Portholme Meadow. It includes examples of the flora and fauna to be spotted along the way plus fascinating illustrated notes on Hinchingbrooke House, the Cromwell Museum and other significant buildings, plus details of early uses of the meadow.

This has been the biggest project completed so far for the Trust. For this new Huntingdon board it acknowledges the early assistance received from Town Councillors Steve McAdam and Mike Baker, and County Councillor Peter Downes. Coral Walton of Coral Design Management worked closely with Trustees to create the refreshing design and beautiful illustrations of all the panels. The Trustees provided the text under the eye of local experts Dr Pat Doody of the Wildlife Trust, Maurice Hanslow of the Houghton & Wyton History Society, and Liz Davies of the Neots Museum. The Trust is grateful for funding from Highways England’s A14 Legacy Fund delivered by Cambridgeshire County Council.

OVW5 Bromholme Lane Hunts

L-R The GOVT Chair Graham Campbell looks on while
Craig and Steve from Create Signs install the board

 

 

Earlier this year GOVT made representations to CPCA (Cambridge and Peterborough Combined Authority) about the commission of a consultant (supplier) to report on the potential for a third river crossing between Huntingdon and St Ives across some of the most wonderful landscapes in the whole Great Ouse Valley.

We have been joined by many others in our campaign that the third river crossing should not be part of the CPCA Local Transport plan, and that there are many other options that have to be considered. This landscape is too precious and fundamental to the success of Cambridgeshire to be sacrificed for any short term convenience.

Following our campaign, on 3rd December, the CPCA announced that the appointment of consultants was now on official hold for reconsideration of an alternative way of delivering the Huntingdon Third River Crossing study requirement.

This is an important result but certainly does not mean the road proposal is going away. The Trust will need to redouble its efforts to ensure that this tranquil and beautiful landscape is not destroyed. As we know Cambridgeshire is the most intensely arable county in England and the Great Ouse Valley is now so much more significant within the fast suburbanisation of the surrounding towns and villages.

GOVT is committed to stopping this new road and fighting for a transport structure that acknowledges the protection of the environment within Cambridgeshire as its starting point.

Graham Campbell

Chairman
Great Ouse Valley Trust

From: SM-Defra-Landscapes Review <>
Date: 20 September 2019 at 16:55:43 BST
To: "" <>
Subject: Publication of Landscapes Review, 21 September

Dear Sir/Madam,

Publication of the Landscapes Review, 21 September 2019

I am writing to let you know that tomorrow, we will be publishing our independent review into England’s National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs).

Since the Landscapes Review launched in May 2018, the panel and I have visited all of our National Parks and AONBs as well as many other non-designated landscapes, and talked to people who live, work in, visit and care for them. We held a public call for evidence that received around 2,500 responses and also carried out video ethnography to hear the perspectives of those we might not have reached. The views and evidence we have gathered have greatly shaped our findings and recommendations.

We have found much to be proud of in our National Parks, AONBs and elsewhere, and much that can be done better still.

We think our national landscapes can work together better with bigger ambitions to be happier, healthier, greener, more beautiful and open to everyone. This is what our recommendations aim to achieve and we hope those involved in our national landscapes will work together to put them into action.

It is 70 years this year since Parliament came together to protect our landscapes. Our country has changed and so must the way we support people and nature. The next 70 years of our national landscapes will be incredibly exciting, and we hope our proposals enhance them.

Yours sincerely,

 

Julian Glover

 

Landscape Review: National Parks & AONBs

Link to online summary of the Landscape Review

 

Analysis of the review from GOVT member Peter Quest

What follows is Peter’s summary of the Landscapes Review (Glover Review) on National Parks and AONBs as far as it affects the work of GOVT.

This summary is useful overall, easy to read and quite dense.

The full review is lengthy but is very useful on the background compared with the summary.

To pick out some key points for us:

  • The main report sets a background of loss, especially of ‘nature’, despite designation, and an incoherent system of designation and management.

  • It proposes a new title for both National Parks and AONBs of National Landscapes (NL) plus the encouragement of a slightly vague ‘wider range of non-designated system of landscape protection’ which should be part of a ‘family’.

  • A shared NL service to replace the existing individual services.

  • Strong emphasis on connecting ‘all people with our NLs’ (including, heaven help the organisers, a night under the stars in a NL for every child).

  • AONBs to be given statutory consultee status in the planning system.

  • Support, including affordable housing, for those living in NLs.

  • More NLs; but the Great Ouse Valley is not one of those mentioned in the text though it is on the list at the end. Oddly, the Review team have not visited our area or anywhere near, and I guess there is still an undervaluation of lowland areas (John Dower, who wrote the Dower Report in 1945, was a mountain man and it still shows!).

  • It proposes a better designation process, against a background of very slow progress over very many years.

  • It recommends the Chilterns as a suitable NL, specifically mentioning its relevance to the Oxford–Cambridge Arc.

Conclusion

Given the continuing pressure of Brexit (more than 16,000 civil servants work on it, including those who might be involved in designations) I can’t see anything substantive happening with the Review for a bit. Then the Government has to accept the recommendations – or not. So the position is that our AONB application is still on the table with others but not a priority. My guess is that all the applications will be quickly assessed before a decision to pursue any one of them, and we need to urge that that is done; I still think we have a strong case.

I do not know whether there is potential for GOVT to aim to be part of a ‘wider range of non-designated system of landscape protection’; we may learn more as time goes on.

Peter Quest

November 2019

 

Letter from Julian Glover to Michael Gove:

Julian Glover BY EMAIL

The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Defra
Seacole Building
2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF

15 July 2019

DESIGNATED LANDSCAPES REVIEW

Dear Secretary of State,

It is a year since I began leading the Designated Landscapes Review, which the government commissioned in response to the 25-year Environment Plan.

I intend to be ready to publish a complete report in the autumn. Before then we have agreed that it would be helpful to provide you with a short guide to our thoughts.

This letter sets out in broad terms what we have found, what we think could be done better and what officials might start doing now to prepare to implement the review, if ministers decide to do so.

What we have done

I have made sure our review has been open and responsive, and have given everyone a chance to tell us what they think.

In the last year members of our panel of six have been to every English National Park and - soon - will have been to every AONB, as well as to National Parks in Scotland and many unprotected landscapes.

Our call for evidence received over 2,500 responses - detailed and enthusiastic submissions from organisations and individuals. We have held many meetings in London with bodies representing those interested in our landscapes. We have also worked with the Policy Lab team in the Cabinet Office, who have made powerful films working with people whose voices are less likely to be heard, including those in cities who are not traditional visitors to the countryside - and we hope an ambitious response to this will be a core part of the new ways our landscapes work.

People everywhere have been generous with their time and ideas. I thank in particular the members of our panel: Sarah Mukherjee, Fiona Reynolds, Jim Dixon, Ewen Cameron and Jake Fiennes, as well as the excellent support we have received from Defra officials.

What we have found

The message from all this work has been vigorous and clear. We should not be satisfied with what we have at the moment. It falls short of what can be achieved, what the people of our country want and what the government says it expects in the 25-year plan for the environment.

Some of this failure comes from the fact that our protected landscapes have not been given the tools, the funding and the direction to do the job we should now expect of them. I want to praise the commitment of those who work to protect our landscapes today. Everywhere I’ve been I’ve seen energy, enthusiasm and examples of success.

Supporting schools, youth ranger schemes, farm clusters, joint working with all sorts of organisations, tourism, planning and design, backing local businesses, coping with the complexities of local and central government - things like this happen every day, not much thanks is given for them and yet much of it is done well, for relatively small sums.

But all this impressive effort is not achieving anything like as much as it could.

Why? Because the national zeal of the founding mission for landscape protection has been eroded. There is a culture which has neither kept pace with changes in our society nor responded with vigour to the decline in the diversity of the natural environment.

We need to reignite the fire and vision which brought this system into being in 1949. We need our finest landscapes to be places of natural beauty which look up and outwards to the nation they serve.

In essence, our review will ask not ‘what do protected landscapes need?’, but “what does the nation need from them today?’.

What needs to change

The underlying argument of our review is that our system of designated landscapes should be a positive force for improvement with big ambitions made possible by these 44 areas uniting to become more than the sum of their parts.

More must be done for nature and beauty. More must be done for people who live in and visit our landscapes, too. And a lot more must be done to meet the needs of our many fellow citizens who do not know the countryside at the moment, or do not always feel welcome in it, but should be able to enjoy it. Our landscapes are open and free to all, but nonetheless can seem exclusive.

- Our system of landscape protection today is fragmented, sometimes marginalised and often misunderstood. We believe this leads to duplication, wastes resources and diminishes ambition. We will make proposals to address this, and will explore the potential for a National Landscape Service in the final report.

- We think in particular the current system of governance for National Parks should be reformed. Time after time we have heard and seen that boards are too big, do not do a good job in setting a strategic direction and ambition, and are unrepresentative of both society and, at times, of the things parks should be leading on, such as natural beauty, climate change, and diversity.

- We think that AONBs should be strengthened, with increased funding, new purposes and a greater voice on development. We have been impressed by what they often achieve now through partnership working.

- We would like to see the encouragement of a wider range of non-designated systems of landscape protection. This could include new areas of forest, along the lines of the successful National Forest in the East Midlands, and support for proposals for new urban National Parks such as the one proposed for the West Midlands, and the impressive work being done to bring the South Pennines together as a regional park. We also praise London’s National Park City movement.

- The 2010 Lawton Review and the most recent 2016 State of Nature Report are explicit about the crisis of nature and what needs to be done to bring about a recovery. We agree and we want to see designated landscapes lead the response.

- Our system of landscape protection has been hampered by having little influence over the things which have done most harm to nature, including a system of farming subsidies which, although it has improved, rewarded intensification regardless of the consequences.

- But we would also like to see a change in internal culture to do more on this. As the National Trust put it, in its submission to our call for evidence, “We believe that National Parks and AONBs are not currently delivering on their duty in relation to nature”.

- We would like to see designated landscapes become leaders in Nature Recovery Networks.

- Our landscapes are largely farmed landscapes and we think a partnership with farming which promotes nature recovery is needed. Our designated landscapes should be bold about the potential of subsidy reform, with the forthcoming Environmental Land Management System. We think all protected landscapes should be priorities for ELMs payments delivering nature recovery through farming.

- We would like to see them develop landscape scale, long term strategies to assess and improve natural capital in the areas they oversee as it is now, and as it could become - working with landowners through local ELMs plans.

- We want to see them take a lead in the national response to climate change in order to help them meet the goal of net-zero by 2050.

- We have found that many National Parks have not moved quickly or smartly enough to reflect our changing society, and in some cases show little desire to do so. We are all effectively paying for Designated Landscapes through taxation. Much more must be done to encourage first time visitors and a more diverse range of visitors.

- We heard repeatedly that the MOSAIC programme working with BAME groups had been a huge success - but it was a one-off, and largely fell away when its initial funding ran out. We want to see a new version of it brought in as a priority.

- Although there are already examples of links with the National Health Service there is no overall agreement about how these two great institutions from the post-war settlement might work together. Social prescribing has huge potential to improve physical and mental health at low cost.

- In almost every place we visited we heard similar warnings about the challenge communities face. Residents are getting older. Local communities see housing costs climb while not much affordable housing is built to add to the supply. We will make a specific proposal in our final report to for a proactive way for landscapes to address the shortage of social housing.

- We recognise that all calls for more public money to be spent will face understandable scrutiny. Budgets are tight for a reason. But doing more will cost more. We want to see our landscapes funded from a wider range of sources and will make proposals in the final report.

- But as John Dower wrote in 1945, “if National Parks are provided for the nation they should clearly be provided for by the nation”. At the very least we want to see existing budgets for National Parks secured in real terms and sustained for a further five year period. Any new National Park designations must be funded with additional money not from the current budget.

- We believe there is a very strong case for increasing funding to AONBs. We will make proposals in our final review.

- We have been asked to give our view on the potential for new designations. We will set this out in our final report.

With best wishes



Julian Glover
Independent Review Lead
Designated Landscapes Review

 

Letter from Michael Gove to Julian Glover:

The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP
From the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Seacole Building
2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF
T 03459 335577

www.gov.uk/defra


Julian Glover



16 July 2019

Dear Julian,

Thank you for your letter detailing the interim findings of your Review of Designated Landscapes. I am immensely grateful to you and your panel for all the hard work you have undertaken to date
.
Last year I asked you to conduct a Review of England’s Designated Landscapes as part of the Government’s 25 Year Plan for the Environment. We recognised the value of beautiful landscapes in creating a thriving natural environment - I asked you and your panel to ask open questions about how National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty could meet the needs of those who work, live and seek enjoyment there, and be truly special places for nature and beauty.

One year on, I am delighted to read your analysis of what needs to change and can be done. I believe your findings will spark enthusiasm and debate in all those who care about our designated landscapes – and for those who do not ordinarily consider National Parks and AONBs to be ‘their’ places. Your report can also provide the foundation for the renewed vigour that I agree is needed to rediscover that national zeal illustrated by those founders of the National Parks movement that you describe.

It is fitting that, on the 70th Anniversary of the Act of Parliament that made our National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty possible, you are setting out your views on what is needed for the long-term health of these places. You urge ambition – this is a challenge and a call to action to which all should listen. I look forward to the completion of your report, and your formal recommendations later this year.

With every good wish,

Michael Gove

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