Protected Areas
Anyone who has visited the Solent coast can not have missed its variety of landscapes. It moves from unspoiled countryside to urban waterfront, industrial refinery to historic castle and sites of conservation interest to busy marina. Our coast is rich with natural, environmental and cultural assets. Therefore much of the coastal zone is protected through conservation designations for its wildlife, landscape character or its cultural heritage value.
Our designations are either international, national or local and each provides an area, site or building with a certain level of protection from destruction, development or interference. Designations may overlap.Nature Conservation Designations
Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)
SSSI's are designated as the best examples of wildlife habitats, geological features and landforms. The SSSI designation applies throughout Great Britain and in England notification of site designation is carried out by Natural England. Sites are chosen to be representative of British habitats with each site seen as an integral part of the national set. The aim being to maintain the present diversity of animals and plants. For biological sites designation is based on an established set of criteria which include naturalness, diversity, typicalness, size, fragility and rarity.
Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC)
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Wetlands of International Importance (RAMSAR sites)
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Landscape Designations
England's finest countryside is designated by Natural England (before October 2006 by the Countryside Agency) as National Parks or Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
These areas are protected by law to ensure conservation and enhancement of their natural beauty not just for the present, but also for future generations. In addition, Heritage Coasts represent stretches of our most beautiful, undeveloped coastline, but do not enjoy the same statutory status as the other two designations. Together all three are often referred to as 'protected landscapes'.
National Park
National Parks are designated under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 in order to protect beautiful areas of our nation. They are specified by reason of their natural beauty and the opportunity they afford for open-air recreation.
Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is exactly what it says it is: a precious landscape whose distinctive character and natural beauty are so outstanding that it is in the nation's interest to safeguard them. Each AONB has been designated for special attention by reason of their high qualities. These include their flora, fauna, historical and cultural associations as well as scenic views. AONB landscapes range from rugged coastline to water meadows to gentle downland and upland moors.
The Countryside and Rights of Way Act, 2000 (the "CRoW" Act) added further regulation and protection, ensuring the future of AONBs as important national resources.
In the Solent, half of the Isle of Wight has been charatacterised as an AONB as has the whole of Chichester Harbour.
Heritage Coast
Thirty two percent of the English coastline is conserved as Heritage Coast. In the Solent, the Island has two stretches of coast, which have been formally designated as Heritage Coast and fall entirely within the designated AONB. These coastal areas have particular characteristics because of their natural landscape beauty, distinctive flora and fauna and their heritage features of archaeological and architectural interest.
The Tennyson Heritage Coast, named after the Poet laureate who lived in Farlington House overlooking Freshwater Bay, begins at Totland on the Solent and stretches along the southwest shore of the Isle of Wight nearly to Ventnor. The Hampstead Heritage Coast stretches along the northwestern (Solent) shore of the Isle of Wight from Yarmouth harbour to Thorness Bay, near Cowes. At Boulder, near Hampstead, these cliffs are especially rich in fossils - it has been claimed that this exposed deposit of Oligocene fossils embedded in the clay is the richest on earth.
