The Landscapes Review of designated landscapes (as outlined in Defra's 25 Year Environment Plan) was launched in May this year and an independent panel was set up to try and find out what the public think works well and what could be improved in England’s National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs).
Over the past few months, the advisory panel has met with National Parks, landowners, outdoor organisation (including the BMC) and other representative bodies in order to gain a better understanding of the value of our protected landscapes. There is now a formal consultation and the BMC has until 18 December to respond.
Whether you live in a National Park or AONB, run a business in them, care about landscapes and biodiversity or simply enjoy visiting them, Government would like your views – the whole survey can be accessed here.
The BMC will of course be submitting a response on behalf of its members and therefore we are interested in hearing what you have to say. There are 18 specific questions but of most relevance to BMC members are those around access, recreation and biodiversity. In particular, they are interested in views on the role National Parks and AONBs play in supporting and managing access and recreation.
We have sought views from the BMC Access Management Group and the Hill Walking Implementation Group but if you would like to feed into this process, please do give us your comments by completing our own smaller survey by Friday 14 December.
You can find more about the work of the review and their Terms of Reference here.
It is unclear what the outcome of the review will be but we will keep members updated.
DOWNLOAD: the BMC RAD app
Get all the info on crags with the RAD (Regional Access Database) app from the BMC! Available now for Android and iOS, it's free and comes with a host of new features like navigation and parking, weather and tidal updates, and of course information on restrictions or notes on access advice. Get it here now!
RAD is community led and your comments help keep it up to date so don’t be afraid to add any relevant information after a crag visit which might be useful for other visitors – anything from conditions on the crag, favourite routes or reports of rockfall/other recent changes to the crag are all useful for other climbers visiting.
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