PET(4)-13-12 : Tuesday 2 October 2012

P-04-378 : Extend the Gower Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Gower AONB extension

Thank you for forwarding the Minister's letter of 8th August, addressed to the Chair of the Petitions Committee.

We were disappointed at the Minister's response since although he says (paragraph 4) that 'any consideration of the extension to an AONB is a matter for CCW', Annex 1 of his remit letter of 11 April 2012 to Mr Morgan Parry (Chairman CCW) makes it clear that it is the Minister who is telling CCW which AONBs they should be looking at: "only.the Ceiriog Valley area".  We have not seen Remit letters for the previous six years, so cannot know how far or for how long consideration of AONB extensions (other than the Ceiriog Valley area) has been specifically excluded from the Minister's priorities and service level requirements.

The Minister's letter to you makes it clear (paragraph 4) that he is "aware that the Countryside Council for Wales have been developing and testing a methodology for landscape designation".  We were told this by CCW in our initial correspondence with them in 2005, and on a number of occasions since then.  Nothing appears to have changed.

Yours sincerely,

Malcolm Ridge MBE

Chairman,

The Gower Society