{"id":305,"date":"2024-03-25T12:03:50","date_gmt":"2024-03-25T12:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chilterns.org.uk\/neighbourhoodplanning\/?page_id=305"},"modified":"2025-03-17T14:32:30","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T14:32:30","slug":"chilterns-special-qualities","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.chilterns.org.uk\/neighbourhoodplanning\/chilterns-special-qualities\/","title":{"rendered":"Chilterns Special Qualities"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\">The Chilterns is a globally rare landscape type &#8211; a dramatic chalk escarpment, interwoven with intimate valleys, rolling fields and sleepy villages.<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The Chilterns is a National Landscape and a very special place for its cultural and natural heritage. An area is designated as an National Landscape if it meets criteria that relate to &#8216;natural beauty&#8217; &#8211; a term enshrined in the 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act. Although seemingly obvious, legislation makes it clear that natural beauty is not just the <em>look<\/em> of the landscape, but also includes the landform and geology, the plants and animals, the landscape features, and the rich history of human settlement over the centuries. This set of <strong>\u2018special qualities\u2019<\/strong> includes things like the natural or man-made landscape, relative wildness, distinctive geology or habitats, and cultural heritage. They give a landscape its distinctive character, identity, and sense of place.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The\u202fChilterns National Landscape was designated in 1965 and extended in 1990 in recognition of its fine landscapes and unique features. It covers more than 883 km<sup>2<\/sup>(324 square miles) of countryside stretching across Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire. It is a living, working landscape, which has been shaped by people for centuries. It is home and workplace for more than 80,000 people and around 1.6\u202fmillion people live within 8 km of it. It is highly valued by both its communities and those who use it for peaceful relaxation and recreation. Today, it provides a cherished landscape, biological diversity (biodiversity) and many vernacular (local) buildings.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">Find out more about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chilterns.org.uk\/our-landscape\/about-the-chilterns-national-landscape\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Chilterns National Landscape designation and natural beauty<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<section id=\"section-copy-text-3\" class=\"block_long_text block-copy-text padding-bottom-remove\">\n<div class=\"container-txt-sm\">\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">So what makes the Chilterns special?<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The Chilterns is an\u00a0iconic chalk landscape giving rise to a rich and varied ecology, including internationally important chalk streams and beechwoods, and a distinctive cultural heritage, encompassing settlements, designed parklands and archaeological assets. The Chilterns&#8217; special qualities include:<\/p>\n<div class=\"b_l_t__txt no-bottom-padding\">\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li>A <strong>rich natural tapestry<\/strong> of ancient hedgerows, trees, orchards and parkland weaving across farmland.<\/li>\n<li>Unspoilt countryside with relative <strong>tranquillity and dark skies<\/strong> on the doorstep of 10 million people.<\/li>\n<li>Nationally important concentrations of<strong> species-rich chalk grassland<\/strong>, home to scarce and threatened species, such as Chiltern gentian and glow-worm.<\/li>\n<li><strong>One of the most wooded landscapes in England<\/strong>, including the Chilterns beech wood Special Area of Conservation (SAC).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Nine precious chalk streams<\/strong>, home to some of the UK\u2019s most endangered species, such as otter, water vole and brown trout.<\/li>\n<li>A <strong>diverse archaeological landscape<\/strong>, with ancient parishes, medieval field patterns, Iron Age hillforts, and remnants of woodland heritage, such as sawpits.<\/li>\n<li>More than <strong>2,000 ha of common land<\/strong>, heaths and greens, rich in wildlife and cultural heritage.<\/li>\n<li>A <strong>network of 2,000 km of rights of way<\/strong>, including two national trails and numerous ancient routeways.<\/li>\n<li>A <strong>rich industrial heritage<\/strong> of woodworking, quarrying, brick making and food production.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Distinctive buildings<\/strong> made from local materials, attractive villages, notable stately homes and monuments, and medieval churches.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Discover the special qualities of the Chilterns and how they can be protected and enhanced within the Neighbourhood Planning process by following the links below.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chilterns is a globally rare landscape type &#8211; a dramatic chalk escarpment, interwoven with intimate valleys, rolling fields and sleepy villages","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":425,"parent":0,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/page-landing.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-305","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"page_color":"","page_thumbnail_image":false,"signposts_list":[{"signposts_item":{"ID":116,"post_author":"9","post_date":"2024-03-12 10:34:16","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-12 10:34:16","post_content":"","post_title":"Planning pages","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"planning-pages","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-03-25 12:36:10","post_modified_gmt":"2024-03-25 12:36:10","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.chilterns.org.uk\/neighbourhoodplanning\/?post_type=signposts&#038;p=116","menu_order":0,"post_type":"signposts","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}},{"signposts_item":{"ID":311,"post_author":"9","post_date":"2024-03-25 12:09:34","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-25 12:09:34","post_content":"","post_title":"The Chilterns National Landscape management plan","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"the-chilterns-national-landscape-management-plan","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-03-25 12:13:37","post_modified_gmt":"2024-03-25 12:13:37","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.chilterns.org.uk\/neighbourhoodplanning\/?post_type=signposts&#038;p=311","menu_order":0,"post_type":"signposts","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}}],"sub_navigation_title":"Explore","add_your_own_event_title":"Add your own event","add_your_own_event_copy":"","add_your_own_event_cta":"","layouts_block":[{"acf_fc_layout":"cta_block","button_style":"button_style_1","cta_block_link":{"title":"Back to Neighbourhood Planning homepage","url":"https:\/\/www.chilterns.org.uk\/neighbourhoodplanning\/","target":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"image_and_text_box_block","image_and_text_box_block_background_color":"","image_and_text_box_block_image_position":"left","image_and_text_box_block_image":false,"image_and_text_box_block_title":"","image_and_text_box_block_copy":"<p><em>Our Chilterns Neighbourhood Planning Toolkit was created as part of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.chilterns.org.uk\/chalkcherrieschairs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chalk, Cherries and Chairs Landscape Partnership Scheme<\/a>, made possible with funding from the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.heritagefund.org.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">National Lottery Heritage Fund<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Published by the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.chilterns.org.uk\/about-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chilterns Conservation Board (CCB)<\/a>, a Conservation Board established under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>DISCLAIMER: While every effort is made to ensure all the legal and policy references are correct, CCB always recommends that these are checked as revisions and updates will occur.<\/em><\/p>\n","image_and_text_box_block_link":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"block_separator"}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ 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