Agenda item

Members are asked to note the response to Natural England’s proposals to designate a new Yorkshire Wolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB); and to consider any additional pressures within the Countryside Access Service resource that creation of the Wolds AONB may incur.

Stephen Clark presented the report which set out the Forums formal agreement, by correspondence, to a response to Natural England's proposals to designate a new Yorkshire Wolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

At the last meeting of the NYLAF in September 2024, Mr Kelly had drawn Members attention to a proposal for a new Natural England Yorkshire Wolds AONB which was due to go out to public consultation on the 8 October 2024.  The purpose of the consultation had been to seek views on whether the Yorkshire Wolds had the qualities required for designation as an AONB, whether they should be designated, and if so, where the boundary should be.  Mr Clark had volunteered to research and draft a response on the proposals on behalf of the Forum as the consultation ended on the 13 January 2025, prior to the next meeting of the Forum. 

A draft response was formulated by correspondence between forum members in November and December 2024, with the final response, which could be seen in the Appendix to the report, being agreed by email in December 2024.  In addition, following a conversation with the team leading the consultation, it had been agreed that a cover letter would be considered as a part of the LAF formal response, and Mr Clark had also added comments based on the cover letter to an online consultation portal.

The Chair thanked Mr Clark for the excellent work he had done in researching and formulating the formal consultation response on behalf of the NYLAF.

While drafting the response, Members had pointed out that the creation of new duties for NYC to support the new AONB had the potential to lead to resources being diverted from existing Council activities.  This had raised concerns around the possibility that the extra workload could lead to additional pressure on the Countryside Access Service (CAS); the point had also been made to DEFRA and Natural England as part of the Forum’s response.

A discussion took place regarding the positives and negatives of the area being awarded AONB status in terms of economic development and tourism, and although CAS would receive no additional financial support for the scheme through NYC, Mr Kelly remarked that there would hopefully be opportunities available to secure funding externally through DEFRA. 

Forum Members appreciated the difficulties, and queried how they could best help the CAS.  One suggestion was that a formal letter was sent to NYC to request that consideration be given to the resourcing of any new pressures on the CAS as part of the Council's budgeting process for 2026-2027, as the benefits associated with any new resources would support the tourism, economic and well-being agendas of NYC.  However, following further debate Members were of the opinion that as the point had been made as part of the response to DEFRA, and as there would be further public engagement on the proposals, that the matter be left in abeyance at the present time. 

Resolved – that the report be noted.