A TEAM that looks after the Oxfordshire Cotswolds has won a national accolade for its approach to the management of the area’s countryside.

The Cotswolds Conservation Board, which is responsible for the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), received the Highly Commended award for its contribution to strategic landscape planning.

The honour was handed out at the 2010 Landscape Institute Awards in recognition of work carried out by the board to preserve and maintain the distinctive character of the area – which includes countryside around Burford, Charlbury, the Wychwoods and Chipping Norton.

A report compiled on what makes the Cotswolds special, and how it should be preserved, will be used as guidance by local authorities to make future decisions about investment, planning and support grants.

West Oxfordshire District Council and Oxfordshire County Council are among the 15 local authorities and 218 parish and town councils that will use the report.

Martin Lane, director of the Cotswolds Conservation Board, said: “The commendation is great news, especially as we were the only AONB to pick up an award.

“It’s a great accolade because other people doing similar work around the country have recognised the quality of work undertaken in the Cotswolds.”

The awards are presented to encourage and recognise outstanding examples of work by the landscape profession.

The judges also praised the conservation board for adapting to contemporary issues associated with climate change and the economic value of landscaping.

The award was presented at a ceremony in London by the poet Ian McMillan.

Mr Lane said the conservation board existed to “conserve and enhance” the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty – the largest in the UK – and to “raise a greater understanding and awareness of what makes the Cotswolds special”.

He said: “I think it’s important that we understand how the landscape works and how it knits together, because that leads to better decision making and better investments.”

The group involves the public in its conservation efforts through the teaching of rural skills such as hedgelaying, woodland management and dry stone walling.

It also gives out grants to community groups and farmers.

Recently the organisation gave a community group, the Wychwood Project, based in Shipton-under-Wychwood, near Burford, a grant of £10,000 to restore woodland.

The conservation board is an independent organisation.

tjennings@oxformail.co.uk