Meeting: Leicestershire Local Access Forum Date/Time: Tuesday, 4 July 2017 at 5.30 pm Location: Framland Committee Room, County Hall, Glenfield Email: [email protected] Membership Mr John Howells (Chairman) Mr. R. Denney (Vice Chair) Ms. H. Brown Mrs. A. Pyper Mr. C. Faircliffe Mr. B. Sutton Mr. M. Gamble Mr. P. Tame Mr. A. Hillier-Fry Mr. S. Warren Mr. T. Kirby Ms. V. Allen Mr. J. Law Mrs. P. Posnett CC MBE AGENDA Item 1. Welcome by Chairperson and apologies received 2. Minutes of the previous meeting (Pages 4 - 7) 3. Declarations of interest & any items which the Chairperson has agreed to take as urgent 4. Reports from committees and working groups. (a) Planning & Travel Committee (Roy Denney) (Pages 8 - 36) (b) Network Opportunities Committee (John Law) (Pages 37 - 43) (c) Unrecorded Ways Committee (Stan Warren) www.leics.gov.uk/laf 5. Reports from representatives on outside bodies (a) Heart of the Forest, Access and Connectivity Forum (Edwin McWilliam) (b) River Soar and Grand Union Canal Partnership (c) National Forest Access & Recreation Group (Roy Denney) (d) East Midlands Local Access Forum (EMLAF) Chairs meeting (Pages 44 - 53) update (Terry Kirby) (e) Charnwood Forest Regional Park Group (Roy Denney) (Pages 54 - 56) (f) Other meetings and groups (Pages 57 - 71) 6. Confirmation of Committees & Working Parties & Members 7. Events and Training update including Regional (Pages 72 - 74) and National 8. Funding and System for Unrecorded Ways Research 9. Forum Support and Website (Edwin McWilliam) 10. Correspondence (Pages 75 - 77) 11. Orders update and Headland Grants (Pages 78 - 129) 12. Any other items taken as urgent 13. Dates of future meetings and sub groups 5th October 2017 9th January 2018 14. Any other items which the Chairperson has decided to take as urgent. 4 Agenda Item 2 1 Minutes of a meeting of the Leicestershire Local Access Forum held at County Hall, Glenfield on Monday, 3rd April 2017. PRESENT Mr. J Howells (in the Chair after election) Ms. V. Allen Mr. B Sutton Ms. H. Brown Mr. J. Howells Mr. R. Denney Mrs. A. Pyper Mr. C. Faircliffe Mr. B. Sutton Mr. M. Gamble Mr. S. Warren Mr. T. Kirby 1 Welcome by Chairperson and apologies received. The Chairman welcomed all those present and listed apologies. 2 Election Of Chair & Vice Chair Mr McWilliam stated that as this was the first meeting of 2017, the Chair and Vice Chair were to be elected. Two members were proposed for the post of Chairman, Terry Kirby and John Howells. A vote was taken and John Howells was elected Chairman. The only member proposed for Vice Chair was Roy Denney who had previously held the role RESOLVED Mr J Howells to be Chairman Mr R Denney to be Vice Chair 3 Minutes of the previous meeting and matters arising The notes of the meeting held on 29th November 2016 were noted as the meeting had not been quorate. The Chairman then asked for any matters arising from the notes: Members of the group asked if any progress had been made on secretarial support. It was also requested that draft minutes be available to the Chair at a much earlier time. Mr McWilliam thought that there would be support in place at the next meeting although this had not been finally confirmed. Mr Sutton stated that farmers were in a good position to assist with the wider vegetation cuts. Mr McWilliam reminded the group that while he couldn’t comment on verge side cuts, the County Council had previously run a Headlands Grant scheme on paths and would bring details to the next group. Action EM 5 2 4 To advise of any items which the Chairperson has agreed to take as urgent. The Chairman asked the group if there any other items members wished to raise that were not on the agenda. Mr Denney reminded the group of the need to produce an annual report. He asked the group to consider the format of the Annual report and suggested this should be an item on the next meeting agenda. Mr McWilliam noted this and stated that the best articles in previous reports had always been from members. A National LAF Conference was to be held this year on 21st June 2017. Up to two places were available and Mr McWilliam confirmed that funding for travel was available. Terry Kirby expressed an interest to attend. It was hoped that the issue of Brexit changes to farm subsidies and access could be discussed. Training for Lost Ways had been confirmed at Cambridge on the 17th June. Mr Howells and Mr Denney were attending and a place was open for one of the RoW team at County Hall. Travel expenses were covered and it was likely a fourth person from the sub group would attend. The issue of Charitable (Incorporate) status was raised but decided to be deferred for the next meeting. John Law introduced a leaflet regarding Bennerley Viaduct in Derbyshire. Funds were needed to restore the structure and there was broad support for the project from members. RESOLVED The forum supports the ongoing project to restore Bennerley Viaduct for access Concern was expressed regarding the future of the City LAF and it was claimed that the group had been mothballed. Mr McWilliam agreed to enquire to see if this really was the case. Action EM 5 Reports from committees and working groups. The Forum received updates from the committees and working groups. (i). Planning & Travel Mr Denney gave a brief summary of the report and there were no further comments from members. (ii). Network Opportunities Mr Law stated that he still had concerns from support for areas of work he was trying to promote by the County Council. Mr McWilliam felt this was unfair since a number of the sites he had highlighted did cater for the very groups John wished to support, albeit not through the publications he had developed elsewhere. John was commended for his work in ensuring attendance and information at the Choice Unlimited Event. Mr Law also talked to the group about Dementia Strolls. 6 3 (iii). The Forum agreed that subject to a couple of changes, the updated planning advice was reflective of the views of the Forum and was agreed. It was felt that it would be beneficial to strengthen the remarks regarding multi-user rights of way which should be promoted as widely as possible; (iv). The Verges Committee had not had a meeting. Vicky Allen did reiterate the need to improve verges for horse riders and the wider ongoing issue of verge maintenance during summer. RESOLVED: That the updates from the committees and working groups be noted. 6 Reports from representatives on outside bodies. The Forum received updates from Forum members who sat on (i). Heart of the Forest Access Group Mr McWilliam updated the group on the most recent meeting. The main development continues to be the Hicks Lodge to Moira link. (ii). EMLA meeting There was concern over the amount of information being circulated. The last minutes had been circulated. (iii). It was confirmed that the Natural and Historic Environment Partnership had been replaced by the Local Nature Partnership. However there were no meetings yet organised for this and there was no indication if a future meeting would be organised. Mr McWilliam and Mr Denney gave an overview of the Chronicles of Charnia HLF bid. RESOLVED: That the updates from representatives on outside bodies be noted anf the group supports the HLF bid. 7 Working Groups The Chairs of the three committees were to remain the same. John Law Network Opportunities, Roy Denney (Planning) and Stan Warren (Unrecorded Ways). No formal verges group. With next papers a sheet to allow members to select which group they wished by involved with. There was also a request from Roy Denney to discuss funding for the Unrecorded Ways group with the County Council. Action RD & EM 7 4 8 Outside Bodies. The following groups were agreed to be represented by River Soar & GU - John Law National Forest - Roy Denney & Vick Allen Charnwood Regional Park – Roy Denney John Howells HOFF - Vicky Allen - Terry Kirby 10 Orders. Mr McWilliam answered specific questions on certain legal orders. 11 Correspondence. The Forum noted the responses regarding HS2, Network Rail and the Treasury regarding funding for access under subsidies. Members were advised that the quality of the website generally had little effect on those joining the Forum owing to the recent expressions of interest. Larger numbers of membership interest was primarily driven by active recruitment campaigns should the Forum fall below the statutory amount of ten members. 12 Forum Support Mr McWilliam stated the he hoped that Secretarial support would be available for the next meeting. In addition members asked for access to the draft minutes at least for the pre meeting to set the agenda. 13 Future Meetings. Members suggested that suitable future meeting dates were: July 4th October 5th January 9th In addition the frequency of sub group meetings was discussed although all Chairs should put forward some suggested dates. 8 Agenda Item 4a REPORTS FOR LEICESTERSHIRE LOCAL ACCESS FORUM MEETING July 2017 PLANNING AND TRAVEL COMMITTEE REPORT (Chairman - Roy Denney) We continue to monitor the Network rail crossings situation and developments around the country where there are several campaigns trying to mitigate the potential damage to the network. There have been no further developments re HS2 although legislation is now proposed to move the process on at them present from Birmingham to Crewe. Stan Warren and I have met with a Network Rail Officer on site to review a proposed closure at Thornton and after circulating members for their views a response has been sent to them suggesting we feel it would be acceptable under certain conditions but in trying to see where that was going find the man concerned is no longer in that post if even still with network rail.