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Recreation & Tourism Review Committee Report No. 02/12 Recreation & Tourism Review Committee REPORT OF ACCESS & RIGHTS OF WAY MANAGER SUBJECT: Report of the Scrutiny Panel regarding the management of public rights of way Purpose of Report To review the Report submitted by the Scrutiny Panel regarding the management of public rights of way in the Brecon Beacons National Park and Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and outline the main outcomes and their implications for the delivery of this service. Introduction/Background The scrutiny review of public rights of way is welcomed as a timely appraisal of the National Park Authority’s engagement in the management of public rights of way. In common with BBNPA we have proactively managed public rights of way in recognition of the fact that they present the best way to gain access to and enjoy the countryside. Both park authorities also have public rights of way Delegation Agreements with their respective host local authorities. Meaningful comparisons with the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority (BBNPA) while not altogether straightforward have also been achieved and the in depth appraisal of the service has proved to be useful. Scrutiny Tasks The Public Rights of Way Scrutiny Panel set itself four questions on which to gather evidence via its questionnaires, hearings and site visits: 1. Is the management of the Public Rights of Way Network (PROW) helping to meet National Park purposes? 2. Are we delivering our PROW duty effectively and providing value for money? 3. Can we establish criteria for PROW data to enable comparisons between our two authorities to help us assess our performance? 4. Is it a realistic ambition and an effective use of resources to seek to open 100% of the PROW network in each National Park? If not how should we prioritise our work? As well answering these questions a number of recommendations have been made in the report which we will require further investigation. In assessing the outcomes it is therefore necessary to examine the implications of the evidence gathered in relation to the four main questions above. Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority Recreation & Tourism Review Committee 28th March, 2012 Question 1. Is the management of the Public Rights of Way Network (PROW) helping to meet National Park purposes? It was clear from the responses that the management of public rights of way is fundamental to delivering the second National Park purpose to “promote opportunities for enjoyment and understanding of the special qualities of the area of the public”. In a National Park where the majority of the coast and countryside is in some form of private ownership, the network of public rights of way including the Coast Path provides the best way to gain access to the landscape. Leisure walking in the countryside is the dominant visitor activity and the Coast Path is a major attraction in itself. While the network of public rights of way was not registered for recreation it provides a well distributed coverage and offers unrivalled access opportunities on foot and important off-road horse riding and cycling opportunities. As the report also mentions, in addition to recreation and tourism, public rights of way have an important role to play in providing opportunities for sustainable transport on foot and bicycle and fostering the health and wellbeing of residents. Question 2. Are we delivering our PROW duty effectively and providing value for money? Making a comparison based on financial investment with the BBNPA or any other Welsh local authority for that matter will always be complicated by the fact that this National Park Authority manages a National Trail, the Coast Path, in its entirety. As CCW’s agent for the management of the Coast Path we make no apologies for this situation. A significant investment is required to maintain a top quality coastal path and it is proven that this investment generates a healthy return for the economy of the National Park. We monitor the costs closely and have achieved many efficiencies over the years with the management costs comparing very favourably to the maintenance of other National Trails. This is why it is important to disassociate the costs of maintaining the Coast Path and concentrate on the cost of maintaining the remaining 841km of public rights of way when making meaningful comparisons with BBNPA and assessing value for money. The cost of managing this network is £282,739 (£335 per km of PROW) in PCNP. BBNPA is spreading a similar amount of funding (£278,366) over a larger network of 2009km to have a cost of £138 per km so this needs further investigation to determine what can be learnt from BBNPA in order see if we can introduce a more efficient service. The National Park Authority does, however, compare well with its neighbouring local authority, Pembrokeshire County Council, who spent £350 per km in 20007/08 on the 1,310 km network that it is liable to maintain (Figures here from CCW on other las).So there may be a case for the BBNPA service being under resourced. Public rights of way form the basis for the 200 promoted walks on our website and surveys for the preparation of the Rights of Way Improvement Plan (ROWIP) demonstrated high levels of satisfaction with the condition of the network of PROW. Counters show sustained and slightly increasing levels of use and given the cross cutting benefits of health, wellbeing and sustainable transport we can conclude that it is money well spent. The report revealed a need for more improvements to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority Recreation & Tourism Review Committee 28th March, 2012 network of PROW so current levels of investment will need to be more focused on priorities and areas of high usage. Question 3. Can we establish criteria for PROW data to enable comparisons between our two authorities to help us assess our performance? This was a valuable exercise. It demonstrated that we were using different criteria to measure the condition of our respective networks. BBNPA were using a criteria that relates to National Best Value Performance Indicator and included the issue of alignment of the walked path to the registered route. We were using a criteria that did not make reference to the alignment to the registered route as we do not have the same delegated powers to influence this and used a criteria that reflected the accessibility of the network to help monitor key outcomes of the Corporate Strategy. Consequently we are currently recording 87% of the network as being accessible. This figure would include routes with substandard furniture, absence in part or whole of signage but acknowledged that the path was still accessible with the aid of an Ordnance Survey map or local knowledge. As a result of the scrutiny exercise we were able to agree common criteria by which to compare our respective networks. PCNPA will now use a criteria that reflects more the aspirations of visitors in that all signage must be in place and all access furniture in a condition that is fit for use with the route being well defined and easy to use. Under the new jointly agreed criteria we therefore have 70% public rights of way classed as open. Question 4. Is it a realistic ambition and an effective use of resources to seek to open 100% of the PROW network in each National Park? If not how should we prioritise our work? The issue of pursuing a 100% target is perhaps the most valuable part of the exercise involving as it does the value for money element and the relevance of the activity to Park purposes. As stated above we now have 70% of public rights of way open under the new joint criteria and can be reasonably confident of bringing another 17% up to standard to meet the new criteria over the next few years. While 100% of PROW being accessible would of course be an ideal, it does not necessarily deliver the access opportunities desired by visitors, certainly away from the coast and could well be disproportionately costly to achieve, requiring another 170 routes to be improved. The capability of continuing to maintain the in-use network is paramount and opening routes to achieve in part a performance indicator has to be balanced against the availability of resources and the recreational value of the remaining routes. As referred to above the network of public rights of way was registered in the 1950s and very much reflects patterns of transport from the first half of the twentieth century and were not generally registered with the needs of recreation in mind. A more selective recreational network could be targeted representing approximately 90% of the existing network (996km). If we choose to adopt a more focused approach to opening paths it will require the Delegation Agreement to be reviewed as we are currently liable for maintenance of the whole network. This commitment was considered necessary in 1996 when the new National Park Authority was taking over a network in a poor state of repair. The issue of introducing a financial contribution Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority Recreation & Tourism Review Committee 28th March, 2012 from the County Council also needs to be considered along with an amended responsibility that would relieve the National Park Authority of the need to pursue 100% target. A new Delegation Agreement reflecting this approach would be more closely aligned to our core purposes and help to focus resources more efficiently. We could then focus resources on improving ease of access on the selected network with more signage, improved surfaces and gates and better promoting these access opportunities. In terms of prioritising work, we are currently working with Pembrokeshire County Council to implement our joint 10 year strategy set out in the Rights of Way Improvement Plan (ROWIP).
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