Planning Guidance - North Wessex Downs AONB

Please see below for a list of Planning and Development related publications.

Traffic in Villages: Safety and Civility for Rural Roads

Developed on behalf of Dorset AONB, this document has been written as a toolkit to help Parish Councils and local groups understand the core principles for reducing speed, improving safety and retaining local distinctiveness. We hope that Traffic in Villages will help develop new working relationships between communities and highway authorities by equiping communities with the tools to look closely at their issues and begin to consider new solutions. It is illustrated with case studies and practical advice and includes a checklist to help local surveys.

Traffic in Villages

Parish Wildlife Map Toolkit

The North Wessex Downs AONB Sustainable Development Fund has assisted the Hampshire Wildlife Trust in producing a parish wildlife map toolkit to help local people include biodiversity in their community-led planning process. A parish wildlife map is a graphical representation of some of the key habitats and species within a parish, town or village boundary, created by surveys and background information. The North Wessex Downs AONB is currently offering support to any communities in the area who wish to help pilot this toolkit.

Parish Wildlife Map Toolkit

Neighbourhood, Community and Parish Planning

All Community Led Plans need to have good information to guide decisions. The effectiveness of any plan will depend on the quality of the information on which it is founded. The North Wessex Downs has produced the following guidance for communities who wish to undertake such a process. Some examples of community led plans that we have supported are included below.

Supporting Guidance

Horses, the Landscape and You

Published in partnership with the South West Protected Landscapes Forum. Owners of horses have an important role to play in keeping the North Wessex Downs a beautiful place. In this publication you will find helpful guidance, sources of information and useful contacts to make sure your horse is well cared for and makes a positive contribution to our landscape.

Horses, the Landscape and You

Study of the key effects of the Horseracing Industry

Horseracing is very important to the AONB, which contains an internationally renowned horseracing centre, in and around Lambourn. The economic contribution of this centre has been examined before but its social, environmental and community effects are only partially known. This report presents a better understanding of these dimensions in order to assist suitable economic development and planning policies to be drafted.

Download Horseracing Industry Study

Urban Fringe Action Plan

The Urban Fringe Action Plan for southern Swindon published in 2006 tackles some of the pressures and opportunities presented by the close proximity of the North Wessex Downs to the large and growing town of Swindon. The action plan, which involved a wide range of people in its development, takes an integrated, cross boundary approach to tackling these issues. It identifies what needs to be done to realise the full potential of the urban fringe and to achieve a more sustainable and multi-functional future for the area.

Full version (with Maps & images)

Hard copies and CDs are also available from the AONB office.

Landscape Sensitivity Assessment of Wiltshire’s SHLAA Sites Within The AONB.

Landscape Sensitivity Assessment of West Berkshire’s SHLAA Sites Within The AONB.

Land Management Services Ltd was commissioned by the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to prepare a response to the report entitled ‘Landscape Sensitivity Assessment of the Potential Impact of the Scale and Distribution of Development in the North Wessex Downs AONB’ prepared by Kirkham Landscape Planning Ltd and The Terra Firma Consultancy Ltd for West Berkshire dated January 2011

Please see the introductory document below for further information.

Introduction