Quantock Hills. An Area of Outstanding Beauty

The Quantock Hills AONB Service, through the South West Protected Landscape Forum, has been collaborating with all the Protected Landscapes within the South West (the 14 AONBs and 2 National Parks) on the production of a new guidance document. 

Horse owning and riding is a multi-billion pound industry and an increasingly popular activity that is growing across the South West.  How horses are cared for and the developments associated with keeping a horse can have a significant impact on the character and quality of the South West’s special landscapes.

Owners and keepers of horses have an important role to play – not only being responsible for the welfare of their animals but also taking on a further responsibility to care for the land, thereby helping to keep the South West a beautiful place.  The guidance document provides top tips for good practice, sources of more information as well as useful contacts that will help ensure your horse is well cared for and has a positive impact on the landscape.

The guidance document covers the following topic areas:

• Managing your horse’s grazing (with detailed information on the problems of overgrazing);
• Fences, trees and hedges;
• Managing waste;
• Development, buildings and other structures; and
• A detailed section on planning, including information on when planning permission is required.

Alongside Planning and Landscape Officers from the South West’s AONBs and National Parks, the steering group has also included representatives from the British Horse Society (BHS) who have played a very active role in the development of the guidance and have shown their support of its contents by endorsing the document. It is hoped that collaboration with the BHS will ensure relevance to those relatively new to owning or keeping horses (who may not have a history of working with the land and understanding good landscape management practice) as well as the more experienced members of the equestrian community. FWAG (Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group) has also been active in developing and supporting the guidance.

At the time of writing this article, final production of the guidance is underway and it is anticipated that it will be available by the time our Spring/Summer Update is in print.  The AONB Service will be providing a direct link to the document via this website.  A co-ordinated Regional and Local Press release of the guidance is also in progress so please look out for more information in newspapers and magazines over the next few months.

Production of the South West Regional Guidance is timely, as it coincides with the production of a national guidance document on horses and the landscape, which is also about to go to print.  We will also post a notice on this website as soon as this document is made publicly available.