Name

Subject

Reason

Interest

Mr Pawley

South West Coast Path Update (minute 20 refers)

Is the Plymouth local representative for the South West Coast Path

Personal

(a)

the steps at Royal William Yard had now been opened, however, the lack of media coverage for the launch event was disappointing;

(b)

there was no official signage promoting the Royal William Yard steps, although, following a request to the Public Rights of Way Officer, he had been placing stickers around Admiral’s Hard, Royal William Yard, Devil’s Point and the Barbican in an attempt to promote the steps;

(c)

the section of South West Coast Path around Jennycliff which was blocked off earlier this year had now been fully re-opened, however, the area had become overgrown and a request had been made to the Council via the Public Rights of Way Officer to clear this area of all overgrown brambles and hedges;

(d)

the steps which were part of the section of the South West Coast Path around Jennycliff had shown serious signs of deterioration, with one step now completely collapsed, making the footpath a significant hazard to walkers;

(e)

the South West Coast Path booklet was excellent and had been circulated really well.

(a)

the project involved a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for £2.3 of funding that would be used to design and improve recognised important landscapes, restore historic features and areas of heritage and promote and improve access to these sites within the Plym Valley;

(b)

the project involved a two stage bid process with the first stage of the bid submitted in May 2013 highlighting the importance of the landscape that project was seeking to restore, demonstrating partnership arrangements and the ability of the project to provide match funding of over 30 per cent;

(c)

if the first bid was successful then the project would receive development money in November which would be used to provide the detail and scope of the project which would then be judged in the second bid stage;

(d)

the project would find out if the stage one bid was successful in November 2013 following the bid being judged by both a regional and national board.

(e)

the Heritage Lottery Fund recommended that the China Clay area within the Plym Valley was included in the initial bid;

(f)

the project if successful would improve access to the Plym Valley for many residents, including residents living in areas of deprivation adjacent to the Valley;

(g)

the project also aimed to improve connections and gateways to the Plym Valley with work already underway to identify ways to improve connections between Marsh Mills and Saltram;

(h)

one of the key aims of the project was to encourage people to explore the countryside and use public transport and this was already being worked on with the National Trust working with the Railway Trust to provide a train ride into Plymbridge followed by them delivering a guided walk;

(i)

if the bid was not successful in this phase of bidding it was hoped that the project would be awarded funding in a future bid process.

(a)

information on changes to the Definitive Map needed to be available for members of the public in an easier to understand format, rather than just in the format of public notices;

(b)

the council should consider publishing on the council’s webpages and making available a publicly accessible and regularly updated working map, highlighting all new public rights of way, that were not included on the council’s published Definitive Map, and footpaths that were subject to modification orders and new applications.

(1)

a further update on the Definitive Map is provided to the Forum at its meeting on 17 March 2014;

(2)

the Public Rights of Way Officer be requested to consider providing a regularly updated map which highlights all new public rights of way, that are not included on the council’s published Definitive Map, and any footpaths that were subject to modification orders and new applications.