For aim 1 (landscape and biodiversity conservation), this plan retains the 18 management compartments and 44 subcompartments from the previous plan produced in 2000.

These are areas containing one habitat type (or a small number of habitats), or are areas visually defined by surrounding boundaries and features, therefore forming a convenient basis for dividing the plan into manageably-sized sections.

Some of the defining boundaries were old airbase features (e.g. roads, runways, taxiways, dispersal areas) which are now (2014) much less prominent or even invisible on the ground. Some are, however, still shown on the detailed compartment prescription maps.