Galloper Wind Farm Project - National Infrastructure Planning

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21
September 2011
GALLOPER WIND FARM SUBSTATION
very highest quality and, as such, they are afforded the highest status
of protection from damaging development at all levels of the
planning system.
3.2.4. AONBs form part of a world-wide network of 40,000 protected
landscapes recognised by the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Broadly of two kinds, there are those
where the emphasis is on the protection of the natural world and
those where the emphasis is on maintaining a relationship between
people and nature. They vary greatly but are categorised by IUCN
according to the objectives for which they are managed. The
international importance of AONBs is confirmed by their recognition
as Category V Protected Landscapes/Seascapes, defined by IUCN as:
‘A protected area where the interaction of people and nature over time has
produced an area of distinct character with significant ecological, biological,
cultural and scenic value and where safeguarding the integrity of this
interaction is vital to protecting and sustaining the area and its associated
nature conservation and other values.’
3.2.5. At a national level, in 2000, the Countryside and Rights of Way Act
(CRoW Act) confirmed the importance of AONBs in government
policy. Part IV of the Act (Sections 84, 85 & 89) introduced important
provisions to allow the better management and protection of AONBs.
Amongst other things, it reaffirmed the purposes of AONB
designation and its equal importance to National Park designation,
and confirmed the powers of local authorities to take appropriate
action to conserve or enhance the natural beauty of the AONB. It
created a statutory duty on local authorities to prepare and regularly
review an AONB Management Plan (S89). It urged local authorities to
'go beyond normal level of service' in the management of the AONB,
particularly in countryside management, Rights of Way, planning
and other relevant services, and placed a duty on all public bodies and
statutory undertakers to ‘have regard to the purpose of conserving
and enhancing the natural beauty of the area of outstanding natural