Name

Subject

Reason

Interest

Mr Pawley

South West Coast Path

Representative for the South West Coast Path Association

Personal

Mr Abraham

Plymouth Cycling Campaign

Member of the Plymouth Cycling Campaign

Personal

(a)

minute 66 (a) refers – amend the minutes to read ‘Councillor Gosling had recently joined the Plymouth Cycling Campaign and had been on two rides with Members of the Plymouth Cycling Campaign and had also attended tow meetings; Members of the Plymouth Cycling Campaign were glad that he was involved.

(b)

that the Sutton Harbour footbridge had been repaired and was now in use;

(c)

whether the footpath along the side of  Collings Park could be adopted by the City Council;

(d)

that the bid for the Transforming Cities fund would be submitted on 26 November 2019 (decision would be made in March 2020) for walking and cycling improvements to the northern and eastern corridor.

(a)

following a landslide the path from the cliff to the beach had been closed as a safety precaution however, people were ignoring the warning signs and still using the path (although some of the warning signs had been removed); people were having to use the diversion to Staddiscombe Golf Club, in order to access the beach;

(b)

whether finger posts could also be erected at either end of the diversion.

(c)

the report had recommended a number of options including -

?

a traffic management scheme be put in place to restrict the road to one lane; or

?

further restrictions be put in place to prevent buses or lorries from using the road;

(d)

substantial remedial works would be required which would result in the South West Coast Path being closed until completed.

(e)

a decision was awaited as to whether the steps (further along from the landslide) would be properly signposted;

(f)

this land was owned by Plymouth City Council and not South Hams District Council.

(g)

that consultation on the draft Plymouth and South West Devon Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) and the draft Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) was due to close on 6 January 2020;

(h)

Members of the Forum to review the documents which were available on Plymouth City Council’s website.

(a)

whether -

?

it would be possible to raise the profile of the Forum within the City Council;

?

Members of the Forum were still able to identify their own training needs, in consultation with the Chair (4.22 of the Terms of Reference refers);

?

the Forum’s quorum could be reduced from seven to three.

(1)

the quorum be changed from seven to three;

(2)

Plymouth City Council Cabinet Members are invited to attend the Forum’s meetings for specific items under consideration, in order to provide an overview.

(a)

the former Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg had announced in 2014 that there would be continuous coastal access around the English coastline by 2020;

(b)

there were two sections currently under review, Cremyll and Kingswear (CK1 was the section of the footpath through Plymouth);

(c)

the proposals differed from the existing South West Coast Path at -

?

Cremyll Street – this was a new rout and would follow an existing walked path along the waterfront seaward of Telegraph Wharf and Freeman’s Wharf;

?

East Quay – this was a new route which would follow an existing and recently constructed walked path along the waterfront east of King Point Marina and Millbay Docks;

?

Trinity Pier and Millbay Marina Village – continuing on from the new route at East Quay, the trail would follow a new section of path between Trinity Pier, Custom House Lane and the Rusty Anchor;

?

crossing at the Barbican to Mount Batten Ferry rather than heading up to Laira;

(d)

Plymouth City Council had been working with Natural England regarding this section.

(a)

Plymouth Sound had been designated as the UK’s first national marine park in September 2019;

(b)

the aim of the Park was to protect the area’s estimated 1000 species of marine life, help boost the economy (Plymouth was home to one of the largest fish markets in the UK and employed 7,100 people in the marine sector), attract more visitors and enable funding for research and a range of other benefits;

(c)

the Park would also aim to promote marine conservation, engineering and research whilst balancing the current industries in the area, such as the fishing and military ports;

(d)

the Government had also given its backing to the creation of the first National Marine Park;

(e)

funding options for this initiative were currently being investigated.

(f)

the area that the National Marine Park would cover;

(g)

concerns regarding -

?

having another layer of ‘management’ of this area (the current arrangements had been in place for a number of years);

?

whether the area would be protected given its environmental importance.

(a)

Derriford Community Park would cover 146 hectares in the north of the city, south of Derriford Hospital; it contained farmland and three designated Local Natures, Forder Valley, Bircham Valley and Seaton and Lower Bircham Valley;  this site used to be part of the Derriford Estate that surrounded Derriford House, built in 1820;

(b)

the Council’s aspiration for a new park in the north of the city had been developed since 2005; in 2015 the Council along with its partners began the delivery of the Park from Poole Farm and had worked a wide range of people across the city to deliver the first phase of improvements to the wildlife; by the summer of 2019 this had included -

?

planting 1.5km of new native hedgerow;

?

planting over 5000 trees;

?

planting and establishing the city’s largest orchard of over 200 fruit trees;

(c)

as part of the Transforming Cities fund £1.7m had been secured which would deliver the following -

?

high quality multi-functional green space that provided a new city-wide destination;

?

network of high quality multiuser routes that linked the Park to the surrounding neighbourhoods and encouraged visits by walking and cycling;

(d)

design work was currently being undertaken with AECOM which would be subject to a planning application; there were some significant eco issues that would need to be sensitively considered as part of the design process.

(e)

the multiuser routes would be sealed;

(f)

the routes would not be lit;

(g)

the future maintenance of the footpaths would be the responsibility of Poole Farm;

(h)

Plymouth City Council was working with its partners to re-introduce a pair of Eurasian Beavers into a fenced trial site in the Lower Bircham Valley; static webcams would be installed on the site to monitor the beavers.