Public Right of Way Team Overview and Scrutiny Report November 2019 - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Public Right of Way Team Overview and Scrutiny Report November 2019

The Public Rights of Way Team manages 4604km (2861 miles) of network across the County. The 3 rd densest network in the Country. Managing this network is a statutory duty, primarily under the Highways Act 1980 and Countryside & Rights of Way Act 2000. The PRoW network helps contribute towards the delivery of the Council’s core objectives by: providing a County wide network of routes in both rural and urban areas, for walking, cycling and horse riders with many urban routes supporting & enabling sustainable travel & the PROW network helping enable healthier lifestyles, & provide a good number of high quality routes for visitors and tourism. The PROW team consists of 2 focussed teams: • PRoW Mapping Team • PRoW Operations Team

PRoW Mapping • 5 Staff (at 4.3 full time equivalent (fte), with one vacant post being out for recruitment) • Responsible for processing legal orders including : Path diversions (PPOs) – to resolve issues and support development Definitive Map Modifications Orders (DMMOs) or claims to correct the definitive map – under our duty to keep the map under continuous review Temporary closures – to ensure public safety and to facilitate development • Comment and on advise on planning applications related to PRoW – including larger schemes such as the Southern Link and Redditch gateway – currently approx. 50‐70 consultations a month • Providing support and advice with regards to the definitive map and the PRoW network to external and internal stakeholders, including members of the public. • Administration including maintaining the Definitive Map & PRoW online reporting system. • Supporting the Local Access Forum (LAF)

Mapping – Planning & other development applications Number received and Number received and dealt with so far processed last financial year this financial year Planning Consultations 554 379 Temporary Closures 60 38 We are required to deal with a high demand for both consultations on planning applications and temporary closure of paths for safety or to facilitate development. These tasks are both a priority in order to meet our requirement to protect the definitive map and ensure public safety.

Mapping ‐ Public PathOrders (PPO’s) & Definitive Map Modification orders (DMMO’s) PPOs • 84 PPO’s on the system. Processing 8 this year to completion. • Work on a prioritised system, so higher priority items may include for example schools, network rail crossings and other safety issues. • On average these take 18 months from start to finish to complete and require a legal public consultation process to make the diversion • If there are objections, orders need to be decided by the secretary of state which may include a public hearing or enquiry & can extend the period to completion significantly • We are currently looking at the feasibility to increase the number of PPO’s completed via the use of consultants (similar to that utilised by a number of planning authorities and businesses). DMMO’s • Currently 55 on the system compared to (15,690 PRoW). In the process of completing one this year. Complicated process to investigate and decision reached can be challenged . This can result in a public enquiry being needed to decide the application. Future Challenges – Deregulation Act • There is some considerable debate as to when or if the Deregulation Act will be put in place. This will relate to a number of items in Mapping including both PPO’s and DMMO’s.

PRoW Operations • 8 Staff (7.4 fte equivalent, no vacancies). • £420k budget. • Inspections of all reports • Maintenance of the network, including looking after over 900 bridges and strimming around 150km of paths per year. • Delivery of capital projects such as surfacing work and bridges. • Enforcement • Volunteer Support • Management of 30 promoted Recreational routes (such as the Worcestershire Way). • In additional to volunteers the work on ground is delivered by a number of small scale contractors who provide very good value for money or by Community Payback.

Asset Management • Responsible for over 900 structures, around 100 larger structures • On average we repair or replace 1 bridge per week • Often challenging remote locations, important to maintain good relations with landowners • Budget compares very well to other authorities

Operations – Delivery The team resolves around 2000 reported defects and obstructions per year. There is a workload of 5400 defects. These are prioritised according to safety first and then progressively in reelation to busy well used paths This workload has been slowly growing over the last few years although the team has substantially increased its productivity per officer in that time. The growing number of reports is thought to be due to increased use of technology, ease of access to reporting & public expectations rather then any significant deterioration in the network. The team historically performs well compared to other counties and previous surveys by the IPRoW and the Ramblers have showed us to be within the top 3 Counties in the Country in a wide range of measures for efficiencies. When compared with several nearby Authorities, Worcestershire completed the most defects (4 or 5 times more than others) at the lowest cost per defect of any of those authorities. A significant proportion of our outstanding reports (1800) are lower priority signage and waymarking reports so we are currently looking at additional resources in this area of operational delivery, to reduce the number of reports.

PRoW Volunteers The Team also supports around 250 volunteers who take part in a number of different activities. Approx. 25% of our practical work is now done by volunteers. This includes the majority of new gates or stiles, and a good amount of waymarking. Parish Path Wardens (PPWs) – An extensive network of 125 local volunteers who are nominated by local parish (or town) councils and appointed by the County Council. PPWs carry out inspections, report problems to the PRoW Team, liaise with local landowners and carry out minor path maintenance such as vegetation clearance and waymarking.

PRoW Volunteers Recreational Route Wardens (RRWs) – Currently 20 volunteers appointed by the County Council who have responsibility for promoted & help manage circular recreational routes or stretches of the long distance trails. RRWs carry out inspections, report problems to the PRoW Team and carry out minor maintenance such as waymarking and cutting back vegetation

PRoW Volunteers Volunteer Groups - Groups of volunteers work across the county to carry out maintenance on a large range of reports from vegetation clearance and waymarking to gate and step installations and in some instances installing bridges. There are around 19 active volunteer groups across the county. County staff directly supervise and/or support around 70 volunteer work parties per year.

PRoW Volunteers, Training & promotion We run a range of training courses through the year. We publish a quarterly newsletter which updates volunteers on the work we do. Volunteers themselves contribute to articles. The PRoW team attends events such as the CALC Information Market Place. We work closely with the with the County’s Health Walks scheme, many volunteers doing work for both. We are liaising with the County Council’s Comm’s team regarding the promotion of our Volunteers scheme. Part of that focus will be on the recruitment of new volunteers and trying to reach audiences we have historically struggled to engage.