Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs)
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, Llŷn (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.
- Identification
- Extent
- Distribution
- Quality
- Keywords
- Spatial Reference System
- Content
- Constraints
- Maintenance
- Metadata
Identification
- Identifier
- NRW_DS98736
- Alternative Title
-
- Sites (AONB)
- National Landscapes
- Metadata Language
- English
- Lineage
-
Originally mapped on paper maps at 1:50,000 or 1:63,360 scales. These are now digitised in ArcGIS.
- Dataset Reference Date (Publication)
- 2022-11-28
Temporal Extent
- Begin date
- 2005-01-01 Now
- End date
- 2012-11-23 After
- Topic category
-
- Biota
- Environment
- Imagery base maps earth cover
Extent
Extent
- Geographic Extent
- England (ENG)
- Geographic Extent
- Wales (WLS)
))
Vertical Extent
- Medin Extent Keyword
- benthic boundary layer
Distribution
Distribution
- Format Type and Description
-
-
Geographic Information System
(
)
- Specification
-
ESRI Feature Class
-
Geographic Information System
(
)
- Resource Locator
- Web Mapping Service ( OGC:WMS )
- Resource Locator
- Download Data & Web Services ( WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link )
Quality
Data quality
- Quality Scope
- Dataset
- Conformity
- Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services
- Explanation
-
This dataset has not been assessed for conformance to the referenced INSPIRE regulation.
- Degree
- false
- Lineage
-
Originally mapped on paper maps at 1:50,000 or 1:63,360 scales. These are now digitised in ArcGIS.
Keywords
Keywords
- Type
- Theme
Citation
- Date (Publication)
- 2008-06-01
Keywords
-
NRW Thesaurus
-
- Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)
- geographical information systems (GIS)
- Type
- Theme
Citation
- Date (Publication)
- 2026-10-30
Keywords
- Type
- Theme
Citation
- Date (Publication)
- 2024-06-19
Keywords
-
NRW SMNR Keywords
-
- Physical Geography (Physiography) (SMNR)
- Regulating Services (SMNR)
- Mountains, Moorland and Heaths (SMNR)
- Geodiversity (SMNR)
- Semi-natural Grasslands (SMNR)
- Freshwater and Wetlands (SMNR)
- Management Areas (SMNR)
- Sustainable Management of Natural Resources (SMNR)
- Ecosystem Services (SMNR)
- Coastal Margins (SMNR)
- Ecosystem (SMNR)
- Cultural Services (SMNR)
- Natural Resources (Incl. Features and Processes) (SMNR)
- Soil and Land (SMNR)
- Marine (SMNR)
- Type
- Theme
Citation
- Date (Publication)
- 2024-06-26
Spatial Reference System
Content
Content Information
NRW Profile
Custom Elements
Constraints
Constraints
Limitations on Public Access and Use
- Restriction type
- Other restrictions
Access Constraints Directive
- Limitations
- no limitations
Access Constraints Text
- Other constraints
-
There are no access restrictions on this data. NRW may release, publish or disseminate it freely.
Use Constraints
- Use constraints type
- Other restrictions
- Other constraints
-
© 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.
Attribution Statement
- Other constraints
-
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.
Licence
- Other constraints
- Open Government Licence
Metadata
Metadata
- File Identifier
- 4f4c4942-4343-5764-6473-3938373336 XML
- Metadata Language
- English
- Resource type
- Dataset
- Metadata Date
- 2026-11-02T11:55:35.854Z
- Metadata Standard Name
- NRW
- Metadata Standard Version
-
1.0