David Cameron on Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty

David Cameron put down a thoroughly worthwhile written question recently, and has just received an answer:

Mr. Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much public funding is being provided to each Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 2008-09; and what account is taken of the size of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in determining the allocation of funding to them. [232510]

Huw Irranca-Davies: The responsibility for funding Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) rests with Natural England and Defra would not interfere in the decisions Natural England takes in setting the budget of any AONB.

The funding for AONBs consists of three elements: core funding for staff and essential administrative costs; projects; and the Sustainable Development Fund. In 2008-09 Natural England has been able to add 2 per cent. to AONB core grants. Core funding is based on a formula which, among other factors, takes into account the area of each AONB. However, funding for projects has had to be prioritised to those of highest importance and those which AONB partnerships are locked into, such as Heritage Lottery Fund schemes. As for the Sustainable Development Fund, each AONB can bid for up to £61,666 from Natural England. There is, therefore, no strict correlation between the area of any one AONB and the amount of total funding it receives and it is inappropriate to relate the total funding of any AONB to its area.

The total funding being provided by Natural England to each of the AONBs for 2008-09 is:

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	£
Arnside and Silverdale	180,871
Blackdown Hills	213,481
Cannock Chase	185,968
Chichester Harbour	188,816
Chilterns	570,638
Cornwall	235,666
Cotswolds	577,926
Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs	295,501
DedhamVale	202,174
Dorset	314,510
East Devon	205,542
Forest of Bowland	282,639
High Weald	347,067
Howardian Hills	157,666
Isle of Wight	178,177
Isles of Scilly	159,536
Kent Downs	303,727
Lincolnshire Wolds	207,343
Malvern Hiils	186,771
Mendip Hills	213,459
Nidderdale	229,809
Norfolk Coast	198,733
North Devon	186,652
North Pennines	412,846
North Wessex Downs	315,422
Northumberland Coast	178,679
Quantock Hills	207,941
Shropshire Hills	251,306
Solway Coast	177,583
South Devon	202,381
South Downs (Sussex Downs and East Hampshire)	1,049,961
Suffolk Coasts and Heaths	212,371
Surrey Hills	238,186
Tamar Valley	245,166
Wye Valley	168,166
Total	9,482,683

It's no coincidence that the words 'Conservative' and 'conservation' sound similar. The Party should remember at all times that this country's hills, fields, waterways and beaches are an essential part of its special character. The need to protect that should be at the heart of the policy process. Environmental policies, housing policies, ALL policies should be formed with that in mind.