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Metadata: Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs)
Abstract:
This spatial dataset contains the digital boundaries of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) statutory landscape designation in Wales. Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has a legal duty to maintain and make available AONB boundaries. Following recommendations from a review commissioned by Welsh Government, in 2024 AONBs were rebranded as National Landscapes. Both names of AONB and National Landscapes are currently in use. Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty remains the legal name for this statutory designation. AONBs are designated for the purpose of conserving and enhancing the natural beauty and differ from National Parks in that they do not have a recreation remit. AONBs are managed by their constituent Local Authorities. NRW is the designating authority to create any new AONB in Wales or boundary variations to existing ones, however these must be confirmed by Welsh Ministers. NRWs statutory powers derive from the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act (NPAC) 1949 and Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. Any new AONBs designated by NRW would now be under powers derived from the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. Five AONBs have been designated in Wales: Gower (1956) was the first AONB designated in England and Wales, Llyn (1957), Anglesey (1967) and Wye Valley (1971), which straddles the border with England. The Clwydian Range AONB was designated in 1985 and extended by the then Countryside Council for Wales (a predecessor organisation to NRW) in 2011. The data has been held digitally since mid-1990s. The boundary has been transferred to OS MasterMap by NRW and has been subject to joint checking by NRW staff and the relevant Local Authority staff.
Data holder:
Natural Resources Wales (NRW)
| Other details | ||
| Internal code | Internally assigned metadata identifier | 8911 |
| Title | The title is used to provide a brief and precise description of the dataset such as 'Date', 'Originating organisation/programme', 'Location' and 'Type of survey'. All acronyms and abbreviations should be reproduced in full. | Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) |
| Alternative title | The purpose of alternative title is to record any additional names by which the dataset may be known. | Sites (AONB), National Landscapes, Tirweddau Cenedlaethol |
| File Identifier | The File Identifier is a code, preferably a GUID, that is globally unique and remains with the same metadata record even if the record is edited or transferred between portals or tools. | NRW_DS98736 |
| Resource Identifier | This is the code assigned by the data owner. | 4f4c4942-4343-5764-6473-3938373336 |
| Resource type | The resource type will likely be a dataset but could also be a series (collection of datasets with a common specification) or a service. | dataset |
| Start date | This describes the date the resource starts. This may only be the year if month and day are not known | 2005-01-01 |
| End date | This describes the date the resource ends. This may only be the year if month and day are not known | 2012-11-23 |
| Frequency of updates | This describes the frequency with which the resource is modified or updated i.e. a monitoring programme that samples once per year has a frequency that is described as 'annually'. | irregular |
| Abstract | The abstract provides a clear and brief statement of the content of the resource. | This spatial dataset contains the digital boundaries of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) statutory landscape designation in Wales. Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has a legal duty to maintain and make available AONB boundaries. Following recommendations from a review commissioned by Welsh Government, in 2024 AONBs were rebranded as National Landscapes. Both names of AONB and National Landscapes are currently in use. Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty remains the legal name for this statutory designation. AONBs are designated for the purpose of conserving and enhancing the natural beauty and differ from National Parks in that they do not have a recreation remit. AONBs are managed by their constituent Local Authorities. NRW is the designating authority to create any new AONB in Wales or boundary variations to existing ones, however these must be confirmed by Welsh Ministers. NRWs statutory powers derive from the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act (NPAC) 1949 and Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. Any new AONBs designated by NRW would now be under powers derived from the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. Five AONBs have been designated in Wales: Gower (1956) was the first AONB designated in England and Wales, Llyn (1957), Anglesey (1967) and Wye Valley (1971), which straddles the border with England. The Clwydian Range AONB was designated in 1985 and extended by the then Countryside Council for Wales (a predecessor organisation to NRW) in 2011. The data has been held digitally since mid-1990s. The boundary has been transferred to OS MasterMap by NRW and has been subject to joint checking by NRW staff and the relevant Local Authority staff. |
| Lineage | Lineage includes the background information, history of the sources of data, data quality statements and methods. | Originally mapped on paper maps at 1:50,000 or 1:63,360 scales. These are now digitised in ArcGIS. |
| Related keywords | ||
| Keyword | General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Protected sites |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | geographical information systems (GIS) | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Habitat extent | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Habitat characterisation | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Cultural Services (SMNR) | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Marine (SMNR) | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Ecosystem (SMNR) | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Coastal Margins (SMNR) | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Semi-natural Grasslands (SMNR) | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Ecosystem Services (SMNR) | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Mountains, Moorland and Heaths (SMNR) | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Natural Resources (Incl. Features and Processes) (SMNR) | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Regulating Services (SMNR) | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Sustainable Management of Natural Resources (SMNR) | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Geodiversity (SMNR) | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Freshwater and Wetlands (SMNR) | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Soil and Land (SMNR) | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Management Areas (SMNR) | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Physical Geography (Physiography) (SMNR) | |
| Geographical coverage | ||
| North | The northern-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | 53.43980268 |
| East | The eastern-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | -2.54148691 |
| South | The southern-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | 51.53817457 |
| West | The western-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | -4.69746122 |
| Regional sea | England (ENG) | |
| Wales (WLS) | ||
| Responsible organisations | ||
| Role | The point of contact is person or organisation with responsibility for the creation and maintenance of the metadata for the resource. | pointOfContact |
| Organisation name | Natural Resources Wales (NRW) | |
| Delivery point | Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales | |
| enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk | ||
| URL | http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en | |
| Role | The owner is the person or organisation that owns the resource. | owner |
| Organisation name | Natural Resources Wales (NRW) | |
| Delivery point | Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales | |
| enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk | ||
| URL | http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en | |
| Role | The custodian is the person or organisation that accepts responsibility for the resource and ensures appropriate care and maintenance. If a dataset has been lodged with a Data Archive Centre for maintenance then this organisation is be entered here. | custodian |
| Organisation name | Natural Resources Wales (NRW) | |
| Delivery point | Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales | |
| enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk | ||
| URL | http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en | |
| Role | The originator is the person or organisation who created, collected or produced the resource. | originator |
| Organisation name | Natural Resources Wales (NRW) | |
| Delivery point | Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales | |
| enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk | ||
| URL | http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en | |
| Role | The distributor is the person or organisation that distributes the resource. | distributor |
| Organisation name | Natural Resources Wales (NRW) | |
| Delivery point | Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales | |
| enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk | ||
| URL | http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en | |
| Resource locators | ||
| Locator URL | Web address (URL) that links to the resource | https://datamap.gov.wales/capabilities/layer/382/?ows_service=wms |
| Locator name | Name of the web resource | Web Mapping Service |
| Locator function | Code that describes the function of the resource. ISO function code chosen from ISO 19115-1 Codelist | information |
| Locator URL | Web address (URL) that links to the resource | https://datamap.gov.wales/layers/inspire-nrw:NRW_AONB |
| Locator name | Name of the web resource | Download Data & Web Services |
| Locator function | Code that describes the function of the resource. ISO function code chosen from ISO 19115-1 Codelist | information |
| Dataset constraints | ||
| 20.1 Limitations on Public Access - Access constraints | This states `otherRestrictions` from ISO vocabulary RestrictionCode and is an INSPIRE/GEMINI requirement. | otherRestrictions |
| 20.2 Limitations on Public Access - Other constraints | This states any limitations on access to the data. Multiple occurences are allowed here. One entry shall be from the INSPIRE Metadata registry and the other free text should be part of the resource `Have specific limitations`. | There are no access restrictions on this data. NRW may release, publish or disseminate it freely. |
| no limitations | ||
| 21.1 Conditions for Access and Use - Use constraints | This states `otherRestrictions` from ISO vocabulary RestrictionCode and is an INSPIRE/GEMINI requirement. | otherRestrictions |
| 21.2 Conditions for Access and Use - Other constraints | This states any constraints on use of the data. Multiple conditions can be recorded for different parts of the data resource. If no conditions apply, then `No condtions apply` is recorded. This uses free text. | © CNC/NRW All rights Reserved. Contains Ordnance Survey Data. Ordnance Survey Licence number AC0000849444. Crown Copyright and Database Right. Data may be re-used under the terms of the Open Government Licence providing it is done so, acknowledging both the source and copyright of the owners. It is the recipient's responsibility to ensure the data is fit for the intended purpose. |
| This states any constraints on use of the data. Multiple conditions can be recorded for different parts of the data resource. If no conditions apply, then `No condtions apply` is recorded. This uses free text. | Contains Natural Resources Wales information © Natural Resources Wales and Database Right. All rights Reserved. Contains Ordnance Survey Data. Ordnance Survey Licence number AC0000849444 . Crown Copyright and Database Right. | |
| Available data formats | ||
| Data format | Format in which digital data can be provided for transfer | Geographic Information System |
| Version info | ||
| Date of publication | The publication date of the resource or if previously unpublished the date that the resource was made publicly available via the MEDIN network. | 2022-11-28 |
| Harvest date | The date which this record has been (re)harvested from the provider. | 2026-04-19 |
| Metadata date | The date when the content of this metadata record was last updated. | 2026-03-03 |
| Metadata standard name | The name of the metadata standard used to create this metadata | MEDIN |
| Metadata standard version | The version of the MEDIN Discovery Metadata Standard used to create the metadata record | 3.1.2 |