The Green Belt and AONBs

Bath’s natural setting helps to contextualise the city’s Georgian plan form, whilst remaining a significant area of exceptional natural beauty and biodiversity. The value of this regionalised landscape is recognised through multiple designations, including as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), and part of Bath’s Green Belt.

AONBs are defined as nationally-protected landscapes of natural significance. Protection is intended to either preserve or enhance the existing ecological, aesthetic, historic, and evidential values of the land. The idea of AONBs can potentially be first credited to John Dower in his 1945 Report to the Government on National Parks in England and Wales, and were formally established in The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949.

Alternatively, Green Belts were only legislatively recognised in 1995 as part of the Planning Policy Guidance Notes, superseded by the National Planning Policy Framework in 2012. However, they were initially conceptualised within The Town and Country Planning Act 1947 in response to the threat of post-war urban expansion and suburban ribbon development. They function as a planning tool to restrict a city’s peripheral growth into defined ‘greenfield’ areas.

Today, there are 46 AONBs in the UK, sites of natural beauty and significance that encompass both built and natural landscapes. Bath is bordered by the Cotswolds AONB, 787 square miles of land designated in 1966 that is noted for its charming, historic village vernacular, expansive meadow habitats, and ancient beechwoods. The Mendip AONB, 198 square miles of hilly terrain designated in 1972, remains a significant feature of the Somerset landscape south of Bath and Bristol. However, there are only 14 regions of Green Belt in the UK totalling around 1,621,150 hectares, a land volume that is slowly decreasing as more land is released from Green Belt designation.

Natural England remains responsible for the designation of AONBs. However, local authorities retain powers of maintenance and development in AONBs, and is simultaneously responsible for the allocation of Green Belt land; the preservation and enhancement of AONBs should be considered in all planning decisions and development schemes, with the advisory support of Natural England. Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs) have been produced by B&NES Council to help inform sensitive change within AONB settings, including a Landscape Character Assessment and an analysis of Bath’s World Heritage Setting. The Publication of the Core Strategy & Placemaking Plan in 2017 offers clear, simple guidance on principles of development within protected natural and historic environments.

Helpful additional resources include Landscapes for Life, which has produced a helpful interactive map to determine if your village or home is within an AONB. An Interactive Green Belt Map is also available online to show changes in allocated buffer zones.