The Chair of the Local Access Forum [LAF], Mr Graham Taylor will be in County Hall to present the report. The Council representative on LAF is County Councillor Gareth E Jones.
Minutes:
The Chair welcomed Mr Graham Taylor Chair, Powys Local Access Forum [LAF], Councillor Gareth E Jones, the Council’s representative on the Forum and Sian Barnes, Professional Lead - Countryside Access & Recreation.
Mr Taylor thanked the Committee for writing to the Minister regarding the funds available to consider public path orders and the need to reduce the bureaucracy associated with these and he noted the response. He thanked the Countryside Access & Recreation Team for their work, which was undertaken with limited resources.
He advised that since his last presentation to the Committee in 2021 the number of outstanding public reports regarding problems with rights of way was now over 10000. The poor state of footpaths negatively impacted on some of the Council’s key priorities:
· improving people’s physical and mental health of residents and increasing equality - the state of the network impedes people’s access.
· stimulate the visitor economy - many visitors to the area were being put off visiting again as only one third of the routes were accessible.
· improving biodiversity - the lack of obvious paths on the ground means people will find a way and may inadvertently damage valuable areas, such as bogs and nesting sites in open areas.
County Councillor K Lewis arrived.
The LAF considered a range of things could be done to transform access to rights of way including such things as:
· Other Cabinet members looking at their Portfolios to see what they can do to help improve the situation, such as those who have responsibility for land or property could undertake an audit to see where rights of ways exist and that they ensure they are meeting their responsibilities of keeping these rights of way accessible.
· The Committee should ask questions regarding rights of ways when considering planning applications.
· Windfarm applications refer to community benefits and these funds could be used for improving rights of ways.
· Review the existing references to rights of way in the current Local Development Plan [LDP] to see if they have resulted in the desired effects and include new rights of way provisions in the replacement LDP.
· A transformation programme for ROW was needed.
· Effective enforcement action was required where landowners were blocking rights of ways.
· Utilising the Shared Prosperity Fund to increase signage and waymarks.
· Reviweing the criteria used when determining th epriority given to reports of problems with rights of way.
· Making use of apprentices.
In response to questions Mr Taylor advised that volunteers could be involved in a range of work. The Professional Lead - Countryside Access & Recreation advised that volunteers would be assisting with the updating of information on the database about the work of volunteers in the field. However, there were confidentiality issues regarding using them to support other work such as helping with Definitive Map Orders [DMOs].
County Councillor E Roderick arrived.
Councillor Gareth E Jones the Council’s representative on the Forum congratulated the small Team for their work. He considered that the number of problems on the footpath network was significantly underreported, the use of the Shared Prosperity Funding for improving signposting needs to be expanded and the Council should work with the National Farmers Union [NFU] and National Farmers Union Wales [NFUW] to communicate to farmers about their responsibilities to maintain rights of way and ensure they are accessible. If the Council was not meeting its statutory duties in other service areas inspectors would be involved and so the Council needs to review this area of its responsibilities and review its budgetary commitments for 2024 onwards.
In response to questions about how town and community councils can be involved in the work, Mr Taylor advised that the Open Spaces Society had published a guide on what they can and cannot do in respect of issues. Town and community councils could use their networks to encourage landowners to improve the network. The Committee noted that discussions were taking place regarding the sponsorship of signs by local companies which could contribute to the improvement of signage.
In his final remarks to the Committee, Mr Taylor quoted the following extract from Welsh Government Guidance which says that local authorities:
“Should ensure that sufficient resources are devoted to meeting their statutory duties with regard to the protection and recording of public rights of way and that the rights of way network is in a fit condition for those wish to use it”.
Mr Taylor was thanked for attending the meeting.
Supporting documents: