Background Information

The Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty partnership (which includes all the local authorities within the AONB) has agreed to take on a limited land use planning role. In summary this is to:

• Provide design guidance in partnership with the Local Authorities represented in the AONB.
• Comment on forward/strategic planning issues-for instance local plans/Local Development Frameworks.
• Involvement in development control (planning applications) only in exceptional circumstances. For example in terms of scale and precedence.
• Provide informal planning advice/comments on development control (planning applications) at the request of a Kent Downs AONB Joint Advisory member and /or Local Authority Planning Officer.

National and Local planning policies are very clear that highest priority should be given to the conservation and enhancement of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. In June 2000, Nick Raynsford (the then Planning Minister) made a statement in the House of Commons that confirmed that AONBs are equivalent to National Parks in terms of their landscape quality, scenic beauty and their planning status. Planning Policy Statement 7 (PPS7) confirms this.

The status of AONBs has been enhanced through measures introduced in the Countryside and Rights of Way (CROW) Act 2000, which gave greater support to their planning and management. These measures include a “duty of regard” on public bodies to take account of the need to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of AONB landscapes when carrying out their statutory functions. The Act requires a management plan to be produced and accordingly the Kent Downs AONB Management Plan was published in April 2004. This Management Plan was formally adopted in February 2004 by all the local authorities of the Kent Downs. This may be downloaded from our web site www.kentdowns.org.uk. The Landscape Design Handbook was
published by the Kent Downs AONB Unit in 2005 to provide practical, readily accessible guidance to contribute to the conservation and enhancement of the AONB as a whole, and the distinctiveness of its individual character areas.