Individuals, groups, organisations and stakeholders are being urged to have their say on the future of Anglesey’s Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and its new Destination Management Plan.
Feedback provided through a consultation process will help the Isle of Anglesey County Council review and develop both these important management plans as it looks ahead to the next five years.
Both the new draft management plans prepared for 2023 to 2028 are set against a backdrop of the cost of living crisis, environmental impacts and the needs of visitors and businesses. They focus on delivering a healthy, thriving, and prosperous Anglesey which will also have a significant influence on interventions, and funding priorities at a local, regional, and national level going forward.
Visitor Economy and Coastal Areas Manager, Andy Godber, explained, “These two plans are fundamental to how we manage the island infrastructure going forward for the benefit of all, ensuring that sustainability as at the heart of everything we do.”
“They share information about the strengths in the region, areas of challenge or barriers to overcome and priority project opportunities for the future. Within a rapidly changing world we need places like the AONB even more as places for nature to thrive and people to enjoy and connect to the natural environment, heritage and culture. We also need a visitor economy which is sustainable and balances the needs of residents, communities and visitors with the need to retain and enhance the special qualities on Anglesey and the reason people visit in the first place.”
Public input will also contribute to the wider strategies for the region, which will identify key activity going forward as a means of raising the awareness of the countryside, visitor experience and maximising the local visitor economy. Ensuring that our environments are safeguarded for future generations whilst achieving our aim of being net zero is also a priority.
Anglesey’s Leisure, Tourism and Maritime portfolio holder, Councillor Neville Evans, added, “We very much welcome the revised approach to reviewing these plans and more joined up thinking and collaboration going forward.”
He added, “Over the coming years, the council will have to focus on its priorities. Careful decisions need to be made on what’s going to make the most difference to local people’s lives in the future, with a focus on the very thing that makes Anglesey a special place whether you are visiting or local to the area; in its environment. Therefore, this consultation is essential to inform our aims and objectives for the next five years."
The consultation will continue until 9 June giving Anglesey residents, businesses and stakeholders an opportunity to have their say. The county council and its stakeholders will then develop and prepare its final plans, together with long term aims and objectives.
Follow this link to have your say on the Anglesey Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Management Plan: https://www.anglesey.gov.wales/aonb-plan-2023
Follow this link to have your say on the Anglesey Destination Management Plan: www.anglesey.gov.wales/dmp-2023
Both consultations will end on Friday 9 June 2023.
Ends 10 May 2023