;)
Marian Spain, Natural England's Chief Executive Officer, together with other Senior Executives from Natural England, our 2 Local Authorities, the National Trust etc. visited the Cheshire Sandstone Ridge on Thursday and Friday 9-10 June 2022.
Their objectives were:
*to familiarise themselves with the area as part of our AONB candidature process.
*to gain a broad understanding of what the Cheshire Sandstone Ridge comprises in terms of its natural environment, landscapes, unique habitats and cultural heritage.
*to meet one of our principal partner organisations, the Bolesworth Estate, and to learn of their vision in restoring and managing parts of Estate land in line with Nature Recovery, whilst providing significant opportunity for community engagement.
The challenges of biodiversity loss, climate change and physical and mental well-being are well documented. Accessibility and connectivity with the landscape is hugely relevant and is part of the National Recovery Network (NRN) programme. The NRN seeks to provide a single, national network which will benefit people and wildlife by increasing, improving and joining-up wildlife-rich places across England,
A reminder to everyone that whilst the Cheshire Sandstone Ridge has been shortlisted for AONB designation, this is the beginning of a very long process which will see a thorough investigation of the Ridge to determine whether we fulfil the necessary criteria for AONB designation.
We will keep you updated as the process evolves and we will be reporting further at our Annual General Meeting to be held on Tuesday 21 June at 7.30 pm in the Tarporley Community Centre — all are welcome.