Countryside Access Forum

Held at Bishop Cannings Village Hall

Wednesday 17^th October 2007

Commencing at 10:30am

MINUTES OF MEETING

PRESENT

Members

Mr C Humphries Chairman

Mr E Clark Vice Chairman

Mrs D Plummer British Horse Society

Mrs P Crabb Ramblers Association

Mr M Johnson Independent

Mrs A Henshaw Council for the Protection of Rural England

Mr R Feltham Open Spaces Society

Mr R Crook National Farmers Union

Mr W Lewis Wiltshire Association of Local Councils

Mr J Withers South Wiltshire Rights of Way Preservation Group

Mr W Riley Trail Riders Fellowship

Mrs H Woodbridge British Driving Society

Mr P Goodhugh The Amesbury Society

Miss B MacMullen Wiltshire Bridleways Association

Mr N Sharpe Defence Land Estates

Officers

Ms J Green Wiltshire County Council

Mr P Broadstock Wiltshire County Council

Mrs M Noyce Wiltshire County Council

Observers

Mr J Batt CPRE & Urchfont Parish Council

Ms R Crocker New Forest Countryside Access Forum

Mr P Walsh New Forest Countryside Access Forum

Mr P Harris East Kennet Resident

Mr S Banton Figheldean Parish Council

Mr P Bessant Christian Malford Parish Council & Sustrans

Mr A Roberts Ramblers Association

Mr A Adamson Kennet District Council (Bishop Cannings Ward)

Secretary

Mrs A Stewart

Attendees

Mr C Westcott Natural England

1 Apologies

Mr W Brown Independent

Mr C Gingell The National Trust

Mrs D Chandler Swindon Borough Council

Mr R Broadhead Wiltshire County Council

2 Minutes of the previous meeting (4^th July 2007)

2.1 All minutes were accepted as a true record.

3 Matters Arising

3.1 Item 7.3: Mr Broadstock confirmed that user groups were consulted and sent paperwork round the meeting showing a list of consultees.

4 Natural England, Environmental Stewardship Schemes

4.1 Mr Westcott began by explaining the Environmental Stewardship Scheme.

a There are 3 segments to the Environmental Stewardship Scheme
- Entry Level
- Organic Entry Level
- Higher Level. This level is the only scheme that includes permissive access.

b There is no Natural England Officer involvement in drawing up the Entry Level application.

c The Entry Level Scheme has no capital funding available so there is no assistance in paying for funding, signage, publicity, etc.

d Entry Level is also a 5 year agreement whilst access agreements are always for 10 years because they take so much time, finance and promotion to set up.

4.2 Mr Clark explained that a major concern for the Forum with the introduction of the Environmental Stewardship Schemes was the expiry of the Countryside Stewardship permissive agreements if a landowner did not move into the Higher Level Scheme. There is also concern regarding how would the public be notified of the withdrawal of access.

4.3 Mrs Plummer voiced concern that landowners that had been in the Countryside Stewardship Scheme found it extremely difficult to achieve the requirements for the Higher Level Scheme as the threshold bar has been raised. This would mean that all the hard work establishing the Countryside Stewardship Scheme would be lost.

4.4 Mr Westcott explained that there has been a budgetary problem resulting in a shortage in funding. Access Officers are keen to continue to promote access routes and suggestions have included pushing for access only schemes or Entry Level with an element of access included.

4.5 Mr Clark raised concern that since 2004 there had been 1 new access agreement. Mr Westcott explained that from October 2004 to February 2006 the Countryside Agency (Natural England) was formulating the Environmental Stewardship Scheme so no agreements were dealt with. There are currently 25-30 agreements in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire which are being looked at on a case by case basis. Since February 2006 to 2007 there have been 6 new permissive access parcels but problems with site maps may be the reason these are not well known.

4.6 However there is a proposed review of the Entry Level Scheme as it is not achieving its objectives. The Forum requested that when the review takes place it would like to feed into discussions. The Forum felt it was vital to have a voice as communication appeared to be a little one way at present, for example the Forum had to take the lead on discovering more about the permissive access issue. Mr Westcott is prepared to take issues and concerns forward nationally, his contact details are Chris.J.Wescott@naturalengland.org.uk

4.7 Mr Clark was concerned that TAN 45 states that LAF’s should be consulted on the strategic targeting of access provision but this does not appear to have happened. Mr Westcott explained that key stake holders such as the Highway Authority would have been consulted regarding the targeting statement that is used to score applications for the new agreements. Update: Mrs Stewart has looked in to this and the targeting strategy consultation never reached the Rights of Way Department at Wiltshire County Council. Action: Mr Westcott to provide web links so that the Forum can investigate the information available so then views can be formulated and consultation with other LAF’s can begin.

5 Prioritisation of DMMO Applications Register

5.1 There are 185 outstanding applications which must be investigated by Definitive Mapping Officers, as the department is now fully staffed the department is looking to take this work load forward. The Framework document allows for taking applications out of receipt date order, the department is therefore looking to write a prioritization policy for example, witness based claims, if the route is obstructed, if there is a clear and substantial public benefit. Sally Madgwick is in the process of consulting on this issue and has been in contact with parish councils, county councilors, user groups and other interested parties. The consultation end date is 2^nd November when Miss Madgwick will draft a response.

5.2 From discussions Forum members had with their parish councils a number of council’s felt that the document had not been explained particularly well. Parish councils thought they were being asked to prioritize individual claims not the general criteria. As a result several parish councils declined to respond as they felt they had a vested interest.

5.3 Concern was voiced about the nature of the exercise some felt the only completely fair way to deal with claims would be by date order. Concern was also voiced that over 100 applications were from one specific body which is clearly a minority.

5.4 One suggestion voiced was that applications which would rectify cul-de-sac issues should be a priority.

5.5 Miss Green asked the members to contact either Sally Madgwick sallymadgwick@wiltshire.gov.uk or Barbara Burke barbaraburke@wiltshire.gov.uk if anyone had any other prioritization suggestions.

6 Discovering Lost Ways Consultation

6.1 LAF’s are being asked by Natural England for their comments regarding the DLW project before 30^th October.

6.2 It was felt by many that the project objectives of rectifying the anomalies was quite sensible. However there was no confidence in this project as methods and processes had not been thoroughly thought through prior to work beginning. It is very concerning that at this late stage there are still 5 separate pathfinder projects currently taking place. Concern was also raised that the process for what to do with the evidence once gathered had still not been decided. The Forum felt that if the DLW project was to continue a clear understanding of what they wanted to achieve and how they are going to achieve this was imperative.

6.3 It was also voiced that there would be no point continuing with the DLW project if the 2026 cut off date was revoked.

7 Swindon Report, Swindon Rights of Way Liaison Group

7.1 As Mrs Chandler was unable to attend the meeting Mrs Stewart read out a report on Mrs Chandler’s behalf. Action: Mrs Stewart to distribute the report with the minutes from this meeting.

7.2 The Forum asked that their thanks and very best wishes be forwarded to Mrs Chandler.

7.3 Mr Johnson reminded the members that if they had parish council contacts to ask them to contact him regarding any published walks in their area so that Mr Johnson can reference them on the Forum website.

8 Rights of Way Improvement Plan Update

8.1 Mr Broadstock handed round a working copy of the draft RoWIP at the meeting. Hardcopies will be available to members of the forum on request, Mr Broadstock’s telephone number is 01225 713349.

8.2 The draft copy of the plan will be available for consultation by the end of November 2007 when it will be accessible via the Wiltshire County Council website. It was agreed that the document will also be accessible via the Countryside Access Forum website as well. It is expected that the document will help to focus consultee thoughts allowing for quality calibre feedback.

8.3 Although Natural England have extended the deadline date for the RoWIP until summer 2008 Mr Broadstock anticipates that the finalised plan will be available for approval by April 2008.

9 Wiltshire Liaison Group

9.1 Following the success of the Swindon Liaison Group the idea of a Wiltshire Liaison Group was again brought up at the previous forum meeting.

9.2 It was suggested that a Working Group be created where more specific issues can be discussed rather than just the statutory issues that the Forum must focus on. The Wiltshire Liaison Working Group can be a standing item on the Forum agenda as an opportunity to update on issues discussed.

9.3 Mr Humphries suggested Mr Clark should chair the group which was unanimously agreed.

9.4 Wiltshire Liaison Working Group members include:
- Mr Clark
- Mrs Henshaw
- Mr Riley
- Mr Withers
- Mrs Plummer
- A member of the Ramblers Association

10 Defence Training Estate, Update on Salisbury Plain Presentation which took place Wednesday 11^th July

10.1 The main thrust of the presentation was that the MOD were inviting all user groups and the forum to provide a wish list of future hopes by the end of 2007. However there was no comment on what would be done with the lists once they were provided.

10.2 There was a suggestion that a trade off between the tails and the OP route was being sought. However the OP route runs parallel to Honeydown Bottom suggesting the value of the route would be questionable.

10.3 Mr Clark felt that the MOD implied that if an agreement could not be reached the Bylaw Review would deal with the issues. Mr Riley stated that the Bylaw Review would have to seek the approval of the County Council therefore the forum would be able to have a voice.

10.4 The SPTA Bylaw Review is part of a national review; there is hope that Wiltshire will be high on the list. The review is to focus on:
- Looking at current use of routes
- Historic routes
- Dangerous routes
- Looking at signage to make it simpler and less intimidating for the public.

10.5 A proposal has been submitted to Barbara Burke to dedicate routes around Gore Cross using additional areas of track way, the Avon Valley and improvements around Urchfont picnic site. Mr Riley would like to see the agreement completed before making any comments.

10.6 Suzy Grindley is in the process of completing a stock taking exercise on rights of way on the plain to assess the overall management of routes.

10.7 Mr Clark suggested the Forum should focus on the strategic routes and strategic issues such as information accessible by the public including signage and maps. Leave the specifics and details to the user groups and parishes.

10.8 Mr Lewis felt that it had been a deliberate decision by the MOD not to invite individual parishes to the presentation and was concerned that no minutes are taken from the meetings as a way of keeping the parishes separate from each other. It was suggested that there were limited places available at the presentation therefore a member of Wiltshire Association of Local Councils, i.e. Mr Lewis, was invited so that the information could be feed to parishes through the Association. Action: Mr Humphries asked Mrs Stewart to formally write to the MOD on behalf of the Forum asking them to clarify why individual parishes were excluded and asking if they can be included in future meetings.

10.9 Mr Banton asked that parishes be sent an up to date set of proposals from the MOD so that the parishes could comment on current information.

12 Consultation on Game Shooting

12.1 CROW access is currently excluded at Ashcombe estate, Gurston Down and Compton Chamberlayne estate for the purpose of preventing disturbance to released game (pheasant and partridge) and disruption to shooting. Following numerous applications from game shoots across the country, the Countryside Agency (now Natural England) commissioned a research project to determine the actual effects of public access on commercial driven shooting. The findings from this study show that more understanding is required about the way access land functions within a shoot in order that it can be ascertained the likelihood of access related disturbance causing problems with game management and shooting.

12.2 An assessment of access has taken place in order to ascertain current visitor behavior and access patterns at each of the shoots. By overlaying this data on top of the map of the shoot layout potential conflict that may exist where access management and access restrictions meet can be targeted.

12.3 At the next Forum meeting a Natural England representative will be invited with the maps to consult on the equitable balance between shoots and the public.

12.4 Mrs Crabb asked that when the public are allowed to use the access parcels the estates should facilitate this use by clearly signing the area.

13 Any Other Business

13.1 Mrs Crabb would like to see progress on signage of access land. Mrs Stewart is in the process of mapping area size of each parcel so that priority sites can be ascertained. The Forum wished to thank Mr Withers for all his hard work in signing the pilot scheme parcel in Bowerchalke.

14 Date of Next Meeting

14.1 Wednesday 16^th January 2008, location to be announced.