Quantock Hills. An Area of Outstanding Beauty

The AONB partnership is made up of the Joint Advisory Committee (JAC) with other interested organisations including: National Trust, RSPB, English Heritage and the Police.

The Joint Advisory Committee forms a tight executive, acting as a watchdog for the AONB Service.  The AONB Service reports to the JAC at least 4 times a year, papers for which can be downloaded from this site.
The JAC is made up of our 5 core funders, Defra, Somerset County Council, West Somerset Council, Sedgemoor District Council and Taunton Deane Borough Council.  Parish Council representatives for Nether Stowey, West Bagborough, West Quantoxhead and Holford, and the following organisations: Forestry Commission, Natural England, Friends of Quantock, Country Land & Business Association, Quantock Commoners Association and Somerset Access Forum.

The AONB partnership produces a Management Plan, which is a strategic document.  This plan looks at how we would like to see the Quantock Hills in the next 20 years.  It also looks at what work needs to be undertaken to achieve this vision.  The AONB partnership works together to carry out this work. 

The AONB Service is tasked with ensuring that this works occurs, which may be through lobbying, monitoring and undertaking projects. By lobbying national and local government, and also organisations such as the National Trust we can ensure their policies will help to conserve the AONB rather than detract or damage the landscape.  A wide range of monitoring is undertaken by the AONB Service from wildlife surveys through to planning applications to ensure there are no damaging activities occurring on or near the AONB.  Various projects may include the recent Long-eared owl survey, which led to the enhancement of our knowledge of their population and nesting sites.  Further details can be found in the Management Plan.