Designation of National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty arose out of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949, although the work to establish protected landscapes had started in earnest many years earlier.

In 1947 The Hobhouse Committee, under the chairmanship of Sir Arthur Hobhouse, identified the Silverdale area in a list of 52 proposed Conservation Areas, areas which did not meet National Park criteria but were still high quality landscapes of scientific interest and recreational value, deemed important enough to protect.

The 1949 Act subsequently used the term 'Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty' instead of Hobhouse’s 'Conservation Area' (a term now used within the Planning Acts for built environment protection).

The proposed Arnside and Silverdale AONB area was 79 square miles initially. It stretched from Carnforth almost as far as Kendal and included all the low pastoral and wooded Carboniferous limestone hills on the eastern side of the Kent Estuary. It also included Farleton Fell and Hutton Roof and bordered the proposed Lake District National Park and Howgill Fells Conservation Area.

The first AONB in the UK, The Gower, was designated in 1956 but it was not until July 1959 that the Countryside Commission first considered proposals for a Silverdale AONB. The plans were deferred but on 15th December 1972, the Secretary of State eventually confirmed the Designation Order for the Arnside and Silverdale AONB, covering 29 square miles (75 square kilometres) of Westmorland and Lancashire.

One of the factors that raised the area to official prominence was the proposal for an Arnside Link Road to improve links to Barrow-in-Furness from the A6/M6. The Ministry of Transport proposed building a new road from Yealand Redmayne to Arnside and over a large bridge to Meathop Moss in the Southern part of the Lake District National Park.

Given the obvious environmental concerns the Arnside Link Road Objection Committtee campaigned against the development and the Countryside Commission later met with the Ministry of Transport and the Councils involved to make clear that the AONB designation would be prevented from going ahead if the proposed route for the road was followed.

A public enquiry was held in 1971 to consider two options: building the link road through the proposed AONB or improving the existing A590 to Barrow. It wasn’t until late in 1972 that the plans to upgrade the existing A590 were confirmed and the Link Road, which would have endangered the natural habitats and heritage of the area, was consigned to the history books. Very soon afterwards the Arnside and Silverdale AONB was formally designated.