All designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England and Wales, including Nidderdale, have been rebranded National Landscapes from today.

The new name aims to create greater understanding and awareness of the sites’ environmental importance in combating issues such as climate change.

There are 46 AONBs in the UK, covering 14% of England, Wales and Northern Ireland including moorland, farmland, coast, forests and International Dark Sky Reserves. The first to be designated an AONB was the Gower Peninsula in 1956; the most recent, in 1995, was the Tamar Valley, which spans Devon and Cornwall.

All are now known as National Landscapes.

Iain Mann, lead officer for Nidderdale National Landscape, said:

“Nidderdale’s landscape is treasured by those who live here and the many people who come to visit.

“Next year will mark 30 years since our partnership came together to conserve and enhance this special place. We look forward to continuing to work with the wide range of partners, from farmers and landowners to volunteers and conservation organisations, as we jointly face up to challenges such as climate change and nature recovery.

“Our new name reflects the national importance of this work and, we hope, sends a welcoming message to people who don’t yet know us to come and visit.”

Pateley Bridge

Tony Juniper, chair of Natural England said:

“For decades the AONBs have helped protect the beauty of our finest landscapes. Today though we need so much more from these wonderful places, helping us adapt to climate change, catching carbon, restoring depleted wildlife and encouraging more people outside, at the same time as producing food, sustaining local communities and enhancing historic environments.

“Modern challenges require new approaches and today marks the beginning of a new phase for our National Landscapes.”

Read more:

• Hopes to extend Nidderdale Greenway to Pateley Bridge
• Pump track could replace BMX track in Pateley Bridge

With its reservoirs, hills and villages, there are few more beautiful places than Nidderdale. And it has rarely looked better than in recent days, when ice and light snow added to its allure.

Talented local photographers, who posted a series of images on the We Love Nidderdale UK Facebook page, have agreed to share some of them with us.

Several are by Dave Benson, who lives in Summerbridge and gets to see Nidderdale through his jobs as a self-employed gardener and newspaper deliverer.

We have also included images by Heather Middleton, Matt Bibbings and Jamie Clark.

If you have stunning images of the Harrogate district, please send them to contact@thestrayferret.co.uk. 

The view from Wath. Pic: David Benson

Sunrise over Brimham Rocks. Pic: David Benson

A wet Lofthouse. Pic by David Benson

Brimham Rocks: Pic by Helen Middleton

A cloud inversion: Pic by Matt Bibbings

Hoar frost on Top Wath Road: Pic by Jamie Clark

Gouthwaite reservoir. Pic by David Benson

Business Breakfast is sponsored by Harrogate law firm Truth Legal. 

Business workshop to take place in Harrogate

ActionCOACH Harrogate is hosting a free business workshop at Starling Independent Bar Cafe Kitchen next week.

It’s been designed for business owners who want “a more manageable, more profitable business that can work without them.”

Andrew Joy will talk business people through the ActionCOACH “6 Steps” model that’s used by many successful companies around the world.

The free morning of business coaching will include marketing concepts, sales promotion and profit-building systems that can be put into practice straight away.

To register visit here.

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Nidderdale to host events on how farmers can improve their businesses

Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is hosting a series of events throughout August to help local farmers respond to current challenges.

This includes farmers who have taken on regenerative farming practices, or who have diversified into new enterprises, including artisan cheese production and the development of a Yorkshire barn wedding venue.

Speakers include a regenerative farming consultant, a Nuffield scholar veterinarian, and representatives from the Pasture Fed Livestock Association.

The events are hosted in locations across Nidderdale, including Middlesmoor, Grewelthorpe and Blubberhouses. For more information visit here.

Matthew Trevelyan, farming in protected landscapes officer at Nidderdale AONB, said:

“We want to help farmers respond to current challenges. It is likely that ‘business as usual’ won’t work for many of the AONB’s farmers in the future, especially as the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) is withdrawn.”

Ring Ouzels have returned to the Nidderdale moors to breed after flying back from winter in the Atlas Mountains in North-West Africa.

The birds are a close relative of the Blackbird but are slightly smaller and slimmer with longer tails and a distinctive white crescent across the top of the breast.

In the UK, Ring Ouzels are of high conservation concern and are classified as ‘Red Listed’ after declining by almost 50% in the last 40 years.

The birds are known as the ‘Blackbirds of the mountains’ and enjoy eating juniper berries. The migration route of the birds follow where juniper berries grow.

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Nidderdale Moorland Group posted on its Facebook page that AONB gamekeepers work to ensure the ground-nesting birds can safely incubate and rear their young chicks when they arrive.

Nesting begins from mid-April when the female lays 3-5 eggs in a nest found on the ground or in moorland gullies, craggy screes or rocky areas.

The female will do most of the incubating, but both parents feed the chicks who fledge after 12-16 days.

AONB moorland gamekeepers recorded the birds’ distinctive call last weekend whilst watching a returning male on the moor.

The males like to find a prominent perch from which the strong, flutey song can be heard.

Listen below to the call of a Ring Ouzel.

The guardians of Nidderdale’s Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty should be handed greater powers to determine the future shape of the landscape, it has been claimed.

Community leaders in both the Nidderdale AONB and the Howardian Hills AONB said while the areas were almost indistinguishable from their neighbouring national parks, they did not have the same protections.

National parks can make their own planning decisions, but decisions about AONBs are made remotely, often by people lacking local knowledge or expertise, they said.

Nidderdale AONB board member Keith Tordoff said the area had its own environmental and economic ecosystem to consider, but key decisions were being made by Harrogate Borough Council. He said:

“Harrogate is too remote from what is going on in Nidderdale. I would say it’s more important for the AONB to have input in planning decisions than planning officers who are based in Harrogate.

“Planning is something that should have been part and parcel of AONBs when they were established, like national parks, and there’s an argument that Nidderdale should have been included in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

“For planning issues it’s very important that it should be people who are already working in the AONB area and understand the issues.”

However, Councillor Margaret Atkinson, whose Masham division includes part of Nidderdale AONB, which covers 233 square miles, said she hoped the views the AONB’s executive provided about planning applications were already taken into account.

She added she was confident the formation of a unitary authority and ‘double devolution’, where extra powers will be offered to local areas, would see greater local expertise in dealing with rural issues.

Equivalent recognition

The comments come as the government considers proposals to strengthen AONBs planning powers to recognise AONBs are just as important for people and nature, but lack equivalent recognition in law or support in resources.

The government consultation follows the Glover Landscapes Review finding AONBs do not always have the resources to meaningfully engage with the planning system, and that their advice is sometimes given limited weight in planning decisions.

A government spokesman said it recognised weighing up planning decisions needed to be carried out differently in protected landscapes, to ensure their statutory purposes and special qualities are meaningfully protected.

One suggestion includes granting AONBs statutory consultee status, alongside bodies such as highways authorities and water firms, for planning applications to ensure greater weight is given to their special qualities in
planning policies, procedures, and decisions.

Councillors representing the Howardian Hills AONB said elevating its status in the planning process would help with specific issues, such as significantly higher house prices to the surrounding area and poor access to services.

A North York Moors National Park spokesman said it supported strengthening the AONB team’s planning powers as it was likely to be beneficial to delivering objectives in the national park.

Read more:

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• Nidderdale’s stunning scenery captured on camera
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Can you help save and protect Nidderdale’s ponds?

Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is looking for volunteers for a project to survey Priority Ponds, which are ponds with high ecological value and that may support species of high conservation importance such as toads and newts.

The AONB’s new Priority Ponds project officer, Kate Wright, will survey toad populations next spring, as well as carrying out clean water tests.

Ms Wright hopes to recruit and train around 50 volunteers to survey a minimum of 100 ponds across Nidderdale.

She said:

“I’m hoping to share my passion for ponds and the excitement of discovering varied species in and around the water. I am particularly fond of toads, and hope that we can learn more about their distribution through the project. It’s also a joy to be working in beautiful Nidderdale AONB.”

Read more:

• Rare species found in Nidderdale AONB
• Grants of up to £150,000 available for Nidderdale farmers

As well as providing training for the pond surveys, short courses will be run in specialist areas, such as dragonfly identification and pond management.

The project is thanks to funding through Yorkshire Water’s Biodiversity Programme and is in partnership with national charity, the Freshwater Habitats Trust.

If you’d like your pond to be considered for surveying contact the AONB here.

A lack of affordable homes in the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is forcing young and low-paid families to move away, a meeting has heard.

Members of Harrogate Borough Council’s overview and scrutiny commission last night called for greater action to bring forward more affordable homes in the area, which has seen average property prices climb to around £320,000, according to Zoopla.

The AONB covers around two-thirds of the Harrogate district but only has 9% of its population and councillor Tom Watson, who represents the Nidd Valley ward, expressed fears that it could become “barren”.

He said:

“If we don’t have small developments in the area, village schools are going to close, pubs are already on the way out and village shops are also going to go.

“The AONB is there to protect the countryside, but we have got to make sure the area is a living one and not barren.”

227 households on waiting list

Created in 1994, the AONB was introduced to conserve the countryside with levels of protection from developments.

A total of 253 homes were recently proposed at sites in Darley, Dacre, Summerbridge and Pateley Bridge under the council’s Harrogate district Local Plan 2014-35. But government planning inspector ruled that they would have had too great an impact.

Since then, a growing number of residents have struggled to get a footing on the property ladder with 227 households currently on the council’s waiting list for social housing in Upper Nidderdale.

And with an average of just 20 vacancies becoming available each year, the waiting list would take around 10 years to clear if no more households came forward.

Read more:

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• 22 affordable homes proposed for Staveley

Councillor Pat Marsh, leader of the council’s Liberal Democrats, described the situation as “really sad” and said efforts to build affordable homes on small plots of council-owned land were only a “tiny drop in the ocean”.

Council planners said they were also demanding affordable homes be built at developments of more than 10 properties to try tackle the problem.

Smaller profits

However, Jenny Kerfoot, executive officer for housing growth at the council, said landowners were often reluctant to bring forward plans for affordable housing because of the smaller profits involved.

She added the council was hopeful these landowners have “given up hope that their land is worth a lot of money” now that the Local Plan has been adopted and any large developments have been ruled out.

She said:

“There won’t be any of these big sites in the AONB or predominantly for market housing so it’s our intention now to approach those landowners.”

Councillor Victoria Oldham, a Conservative who represents the Washburn ward, said another possible solution would be the conversion of disused farm buildings, but she added any new developments were often met with opposition from locals.

She said:

“We all know little pockets of land in the area where a pair of semis could easily go, but half of the problem would be the negativity from parish councils or people in the immediate vicinity.

“I’m pretty much against large developments in the AONB because we haven’t got the transport facilities. A lot of places don’t even have shops or post offices – and you can forget banking.

“But one or two houses in areas would be of benefit as something needs to be done.”

Visitors to Brimham Rocks were treated to an impromptu concert this week designed to highlight the importance of nature and arts at a time of crisis.

Cause UK, which does marketing for Nidderdale AONB, worked with Leeds firm Besbrode Pianos to get the concert grand piano firmly in place at the beauty spot.

Pianist Kevin James received applause and requests for encores during his Monday afternoon recital. Most listeners had not heard live music for six months.

Read more:

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• Alien plant puts Nidderdale beauty spots under threat

Those lucky enough to be there are unlikely to hear live music again anytime soon due to social distancing measures.

Visitors to Brimham Rocks got a real treat on Monday afternoon.

Clair Challenor-Chadwick, managing director of Cause UK, said:

“The whole of the UK is stressed out of its mind from the pandemic. As we work in the arts and across the green agenda, the piano idea was a way to highlight how much we need both right now – how we should value it, why we should safeguard it.”

The arts and nature are both under threat in the UK. More than 40% of species are in decline and many live events are not viable to run.

The concert occurred ahead of Landscapes for Life Week, which starts on September 19 and aims to reconnect people with nature at AONBs in England and Wales.