A NEW five-year management strategy will help to protect and enhance the countryside drawing visitors to the North Pennine hills.

Wear Valley District Council is one of nine local authorities committed to a blueprint outlining future policy for the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty covering parts of Weardale.

The plan sets out measures for promoting sustainable tourism, developing conservation projects, encouraging long-term land management, conserving geological features and extending grant schemes to support community environmental initiatives.

The North Pennines AONB is the second largest of England's 41 protected zones stretching from Hexham and the Tyne Valley in the north to the Yorkshire Dales National Park in the south, east to the A68 and west towards Carlisle.

It includes a diverse range of habitats of conservation value such as blanket bog, hay meadows and upland oak woodland, and supports internationally important numbers of birds.

As well as providing a home for 80pc of England's struggling black grouse population, it is also home to 20,000 pairs of breeding waders, 12pc of the UK's merlin population and ten per cent of the country's golden plovers.

The area incorporates parts of the Pennine Dales Environmentally Sensitive Area as well as three national nature reserves.

Last June, it gained worldwide recognition when it became the first European Geopark in Britain, an award backed by UNESCO for areas of significant geological conservation importance.

Chris Woodley-Stewart, North Pennines AONB officer, based in Stanhope, said: "We have consulted with a further 50 plus organisations and received almost 1,000 responses to the consultation draft of the plan.

"Those involved represent a wide range of interests including conservation bodies, regional development agencies, local community groups, archaeologists, geologists, land owners, parish councils and many more.

"The challenge now is for everyone to work together to turn the words into action."

Three quarters of the plan's development costs have come from the Countryside Agency.