The Current State of the AONB 2023 

What is the current state of the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)? The AONB Service has brought together a wide variety of facts, figures and statistics on everything from the condition of the nature reserves, how many people use certain paths, how much development pressure and what the population is.

In the report you’ll find information, maps, charts and tables to reveal what’s changing and what’s staying the same. The last time a similar report was done was in 2018 and before that in 2009 so the data has been compared wherever possible.

One of the most interesting things about this report is that it captures the effect of the pandemic on the Mendip Hills in relation to visitor numbers and  volunteer hours. Since the last report a series of visitor counters have been installed across the rights of way network alongside an annual Big Visitor  Count, results from these are now included.

Another of the other interesting headlines the report reveals is the rise in people employed in agriculture, notably part-time farmers. There has also been a growth in small-holdings in the AONB. 

Jim Hardcastle, Mendip Hills AONB Manager, said, “This is a really important report that shows how this nationally important landscape is coping with modern life, it’s also a great snapshot for researchers of the future to use. We’ve produced the report as we’re starting to review the Mendip Hills AONB Management Plan that will last for the next five years. The report will help the consultation process and the subsequent policies in it.”

You can download the report in full here (pdf download, 4,681kB)