All designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England and Wales, including Nidderdale, have been rebranded National Landscapes from today.

The new name aims to create greater understanding and awareness of the sites’ environmental importance in combating issues such as climate change.

There are 46 AONBs in the UK, covering 14% of England, Wales and Northern Ireland including moorland, farmland, coast, forests and International Dark Sky Reserves. The first to be designated an AONB was the Gower Peninsula in 1956; the most recent, in 1995, was the Tamar Valley, which spans Devon and Cornwall.

All are now known as National Landscapes.

Iain Mann, lead officer for Nidderdale National Landscape, said:

“Nidderdale’s landscape is treasured by those who live here and the many people who come to visit.

“Next year will mark 30 years since our partnership came together to conserve and enhance this special place. We look forward to continuing to work with the wide range of partners, from farmers and landowners to volunteers and conservation organisations, as we jointly face up to challenges such as climate change and nature recovery.

“Our new name reflects the national importance of this work and, we hope, sends a welcoming message to people who don’t yet know us to come and visit.”

Pateley Bridge

Tony Juniper, chair of Natural England said:

“For decades the AONBs have helped protect the beauty of our finest landscapes. Today though we need so much more from these wonderful places, helping us adapt to climate change, catching carbon, restoring depleted wildlife and encouraging more people outside, at the same time as producing food, sustaining local communities and enhancing historic environments.

“Modern challenges require new approaches and today marks the beginning of a new phase for our National Landscapes.”

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Harrogate’s Crescent Gardens is set to be re-landscaped and re-named The Queen Elizabeth Memorial Garden.

Harrogate Borough Council wants to spend £21,000 redesigning the space so it can hold more events.

Three yew trees and rose and shrub beds would be relocated as part of the scheme. Commemorative plaques within the rose beds would also be moved to new beds on the site.

A report by Kirsty Stewart, the council’s parks and grounds maintenance manager, said work “will need to be undertaken to return the grounds to their current state” after Crescent Gardens hosted an ice rink and funfair in December and January.

The report adds:

“We would like to take the opportunity to upgrade the area to enable better accommodation of future events with less disruption to the planting in this area.”

It added a three-year licence for the Christmas ice rink and funfair on the site “will generate a minimum income of £37,500 per year… with some of this being available to be reinvested in the space to make necessary changes and improvements”.

The area will be re-landscaped so it can host more events.

The council, which will be abolished at the end of next month, announced yesterday it had renamed its leisure centres in Pateley Bridge, Harrogate and Knaresborough. Now it intends to rename the land outside its former municipal offices.

It plans to create a new central rose bed across the whole of the sloped area and install a metal arch/tunnel adorned with climbing roses across the main footpath leading to the central structure.

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The report, which will be discussed by councillors on Tuesday next week, puts the cost of the work at £21,000 but added “pricing is subject to change depending on the increase in steel/materials costs over the next few months”.

Engagement with plaque owners will be undertaken “where possible before works commence”, it adds.

Crescent Gardens was last redesigned following the 1990 Gateshead Garden Festival, when the central glass structure erected.

Over the last 10 to 15 years, it has hosted the Spiegeltent, organised by Harrogate International Festivals, the mayor’s carol concert, church events, and more recently artisan markets and the ice rink and fun fair.

Councillors will also discuss plans to refurbish Bebra Gardens in Knaresborough and the paddling pools in Ripon at the same meeting next week.

However, a report outlining the details of these schemes has been classified as exempt from the public.