The Malvern Hills and Commons are a large, complex and multi-designated landscape that is used and enjoyed by a wide range of people. Managing such a landscape is a big challenge with many legal duties that must be met and a wide range of opinions and demands of the land must be balanced.
Our practical work on the ground is guided by the Land Management Plan (2021-2026). This document was developed with partners and four public consultation exercises.
The plan is split into three parts.
This first part identifies the drivers behind the Trust's work and then describes the land and all it's features.
Land Management Plan Part 1 (PDF, 4.8mb)
This part evaluates what has been described in Part 1 in order to identify the priorities.
The final part clarifies what the goals are (objectives) and describes how Trust will achieve them in the work programme.
Land Management Plan Part 3 (PDF 5.6mb)
Appendix 1 lists all the features of the Hills and Commons and was used to evaluate and prioritise them.
Appendix 1 - Evaluation (PDF)
Four public consultations were held to put this plan together. This included the opportunity for the public contribute to 'Your Views', a postcard exercise to list what they liked about the Hills and what they thought were issues.
Summary of 'Your Views' (PDF)
Much of the Malvern Hills and Commons are a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Both designations convey a legal requirement for land management that supports the defined landscape character and conserve notified wildlife and geological features.
The Malvern Hills Trust are working towards a landscape that meets those requirements and far more. Our work involves the maintenance and restoration of open habitats to the benefit of views, grassland wildlife and cultural heritage. In other places we are managing and actively expanding woodlands. The visionary map guiding this work is supported by the government conservation body Natural England and the Malvern Hills AONB unit.
It can be viewed here: SSSI Supplementary Mapping (PDF).
