Delivering the Isle of Wight AONB Management Plan
The Management Plan is accompanied by a Delivery Plan which has been devised by the Isle of Wight National Landscape team and ratified by the Steering Group. Together these documents provide a mechanism to annually monitor and measure progress of all partners towards delivering the strategic objectives of the AONB.
In assembling the Delivery Plan the Isle of Wight National Landscape Partnership has sought to include a range of actions and projects that contribute to the AONB policies, but can also be easily measured without becoming a bureaucratic burden. The list is therefore not comprehensive and the role played by all its partners is acknowledged, whether or not recognised within the Plan.
Whilst the Management Plan is a five-year strategic document, the Delivery Plan is focused on priority actions and associated projects likely to be delivered in the immediate 2‐3 years. These actions and projects are classed as ‘Doing’, ‘Planned’ and ‘Wish’. Where ‘Planned’ the Lead Partner has indicated the proposed partners and a timetable for measuring progress. These may change prior to commencement. ‘Wishes’ have been included where there is a project and lead partner, but no current means of delivery. The usual restriction in this case would be lack of funds. Other actions, where there are currently no defined projects or lead partner, have been excluded from the Delivery Plan, even as wishes, however, they remain recorded in the Management Plan as priority actions.
This Delivery Plan can be accessed through the Isle of Wight National Landscape website www.isleofwight-nl.org.uk . It will be updated on an annual basis following the Isle of Wight National Landscape AGM. At the AGM attendees will be able to review both progress and priorities for the coming years.
Monitoring
In order to assess the effectiveness of both the AONB Management Plan and the broader environmental condition of the Isle of Wight AONB, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms need to be in place. These should be: simple and easily understood; relevant to the landscape character of the AONB; capable of repetition over time so that any trends become apparent; and, where possible, based on standard procedures to enable comparison with the national family of protected landscapes.
Metrics exist for the monitoring of the Isle of Wight AONB progress against the Protected Landscapes Targets and Outcomes Framework published by DEFRA in 2024.
The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) was developed in a parallel with the Management Plan 2025 – 2030. The environmental baseline presented within the SEA should be considered an overview of known data about the AONB and AONB management. Where knowledge gaps exist, it is hoped ongoing consultation and partnership working will provide suitable data. However, if there is no known baseline data, it will become part of the delivery of the Management Plan to establish appropriate methodology to assess the services. A full outline of the scoped baseline is available in the Appendix 2 of the SEA.
Further examination of the benefits delivered by the Wight AONB landscape will be undertaken throughout the lifetime of the Management Plan. Moreover, comprehensive monitoring of the benefits where they do not exist will also be developed in line with appropriate indicators, over the course of the Plan.