Name

Subject

Reason

Interest

Mr Emery

PROW Officer’s Briefing

(minute 15 refers)

Member Open Spaces Society

Personal

Councillor G Wheeler

Public Path Diversion Order Application

(minute 16 refers)

Member of Planning Committee

Personal

Mr Pawley

Public Path Diversion Order Application

(minute 16 refers)

Member of the Ramblers Association

Personal

(a)

minute 5 (3) Mr Stuart should actually read Mr Stewart;

(b)

minute 8 (a) the paragraph “a coloured map showing the paths have is being held at the council offices and can be viewed by contacting the secretary” should read “a coloured map showing the paths was held at the council offices and could be viewed by contacting the secretary”.

(a)

the LAF were obligated to provide an annual report to Natural England, however an annual report had not been completed and published since 2006/07;

(b)

a section in the annual report would be for the forums future aspirations;

(c)

in order to complete the annual report for 2009/10 members were required to provide the following information –

·     

a personal statement highlighting their career history, interests and hobbies, associations and clubs they were affiliated to and any other relevant information;

·     

a chairman’s foreword.

(1)

the Rights of Way Improvement Plan and the Definitive Map would form the main body of the forums future aspirations;

(2)

the personal statements and Chairman’s foreword would be submitted to Ross Johnston, Secretary to the LAF by Friday 3 September 2010;

(3)

a draft annual report would be provided at the next meeting of the forum.

(a)

the Saltram Countryside Park master planning study had begun.  It would look at developing a master plan for the Park that increased recreational opportunities, enhanced the landscape, historic, and wildlife assets of the Park and maintained the viability of farming in the area;

(b)

the first stage was an open public consultation asking people for their views on what they would like the Park to look like and how they would like to use the Park.  There were going to be a number of consultation opportunities over the next few months and the dates of these would be circulated when they had been finalised;

(c)

a stakeholder workshop would be held in early September and it was hoped that a representative of the LAF would be able to attend;

(d)

in early Autumn it was hoped that developing options for the Park would begin with a draft master plan being produced early in 2011. There would be further consultation at both of these stages;

(e)

the finalised master plan would be produced in early spring 2011 and works would commence early in the new financial year 2011/12;

(f)

a link would be distributed to all members so that they could take part in consultation on Saltram Countryside Park.

(1)

Ray Fairchild, Chair and Ian Stewart, Vice Chair of the LAF would be the nominated LAF representatives to attend the stakeholder workshop in early September 2010;

(2)

a letter would be sent to Robin Pearce, Public Rights of Way Officer from the LAF stating that they wished for the paths at the Saltram Countryside Park to become public rights of way and that this should be included in the consultation that the park was to undergo.

(a)

the most important aspect of the ROWIP was the action plan where the LAF had a frequent involvement;

(b)

the ROWIP would be reported to the LAF on an annual basis and would also form part of the LAFs annual report;

(c)

theROWIP was not a finalised document and the LAF were being consulted on the plan at an early stage to allow the forum to have two or three meetings in order to formalise feedback.

(d)

they hoped that in reviewing other ROWIPs that the Public Rights of Way Officer had taken on board the experiences gained from elsewhere;

(e)

the document would benefit from a structure of how the ROWIP was to be implemented and also the inclusion of a glossary and contents page.

(a)

it was disappointing that the Modification Order Application for Public Rights of Way across Widewell Playing Field was in a queuing system as they felt that this application should be prioritised;

(b)

the lack of urgency with the application had put people off being interested and felt that the application process of four years (2008 – 2012) was not good enough;

(c)

the plans to build on Widewell Playing Field should be put on hold until the Public Rights of Way Modification Order was completed.

(d)

the queuing system allowed for approximately two applications to be completed per year and currently there were two applications ahead of the Widewell Playing Field Application;

(e)

an objective in the Rights of Way Improvement Plan was to create a priority system regarding applications and it was hoped that such a system would be implemented in 2011;

(g)

the problem with only two applications being completed per year had a knock on effect to the definitive map and this was an issue that could be resolved with more adequate resourcing.

(a)

the path being closed was a well used route heading to Bovisand;

(b)

the application doesn’t give good enough reason to consider approving the diversion;

(c)

statutory regulations require the council to show the public path diversion order to divert the footpath was substantially as convenient to the public. The diversion at 325 metres was almost treble the length of the existing footpath. Its width at 1.5 metre was the minimum allowed for an 'edge of field' path. The diverted footpath would not be commodious as it would be within an existing hedge/fence and new post and rail fence giving the user a feeling of being 'penned in' with no means of exit except at the kissing gates at either end of the diverted path.

(a)

the statistic that stated 57.03% of people were happy with bridleways in the city was misleading and should be deleted due to the fact that Plymouth does not have any official bridleways in the city;

(b)

Laira Bridge needed to form a major part of the consultation for the Local Transport Plan.

(1)

if members had any comments regarding the priorities or consultation for the Local Transport Plan they should forward them to the Secretary of the LAF who would distribute the comments to the relevant Transport Officer.

(a)

a letter from Barbara Mickley to the Head of Legal Services regarding the land at Oreston Recreational Ground;

(b)

a copy of the consultation response submitted to DEFRA by Ray Fairchild, Chair on the proposed regulations on procedures for representations and objections under schedule 1A to the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949, as inserted by Schedule 19 to the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009;

(c)

a response to the Forum from Anthony Payne, Director for Development and Regeneration on the Coastal Footpath and Hooe Lake bridge link.