Regional Meeting of the north east Local Access Forums 6 th June 2011 10:00am at the Dolphin Centre, Darlington Minutes Present: Robin Daniels, (Regional Chair & Tees Valley Chair), Steve Scoffin (Regional Vice Chair & Durham Vice Chair), James Brown (Northumberland National Park & County Chair), Geoff Hughes (Durham Chair), Dave Turnbull (Tyne & Wear Vice Chair), Ian Tait, Mike Ogden, Beryl Bird, Andrew Mackintosh (Natural England), Brendan Callaghan (Forestry Commission). Apologies: Paul Taylor (Tyne & Wear Chair) Not in Attendance: Norma Taylor, Catriona Cook (North York Moors Local Access Forum Chair & Vice Chair) 1. Welcome by Chair, Robin Daniels 2. Apologies from Paul Taylor at Tyne and Wear. 3. Minutes of the previous meeting all agreed 4. Chair welcomed Andrew Mackintosh, Senior Access Specialist from the Natural England office in Leeds to the meeting. Andrew outlined the background to the present Natural England position a loss of 400 jobs with a 30% budget cut. This had necessitated a refreshed strategic direction in response to the new government s priorities of localism, the Big Society and public sector efficiencies. Natural England s Access and Engagement Function covers statutory responsibility for access which includes coastal, open access and National Trails; advice and advocacy and management of NNRs.
Andrew outlined the statutory nature of Natural England s relationship with LAFs and its previous roles in support for Regional Co ordinators; as a source for training and advice and its support given to EAF. Richard Benyon s letter appears to be providing the steer and the Government is actively searching for means to improve communications between LAFs and government, using Natural England as a conduit, with LAFs used more effectively via the localism agenda to improve access and recreation. Natural England will continue to provide interim support via the Regional Co ordinator role until March 2012, and have appointed a National Coordinator, who will work with Defra and support the virtual Forum. Local delivery staff will work with Regional Co ordinators and individual LAFs. Some discussion took place as to Andrew s request for how to move the discussion forward with Defra. These included priorities from across the region, liaison with Parish Councils, the shortened time frame, the lack of access on the Ecosystems Services agenda. Andrew agreed that it was easier to focus on habitat protection than focus on access issues on the ground. Action: Chair agreed to write to Richard Benyon, Minister for Rural Affairs outlining the region s priorities, by the close of June and copy in Natural England CE. Steve noted ironically, that that would probably be what the EAF would have done. It was agreed that, as far as the north east is concerned that the seat on the Rights of Way Review Committee should rotate through the regions, and that a Natural England Advisor should be encouraged to attend each Regional meeting. Robin thanked Andrew for his presentation and frank response to questions. 5. Robin welcomed Brendan Callaghan, north east Director of the Forestry Commission to the meeting. Brendan outlined the background to the present position of the Forestry Commission. A 25 30% reduction in funding to be made by April 2015; the focus is on Protection, Improvement and Expansion. The public s reaction to the proposed sale of Forest assets has led to difficult conversations with Ministers. The FC recognises that some of the woodland estate is not actively managed and parts could be re designed. This government appears to be interested in more woodland, with a development
in the timber and tourism parts of the business which, at present each contribute 40% of the income. The Director of Forest Services with about 180 posts provides a team giving advice, managing the regulations, EIA, grant funds, local policy, whilst the Director of Forest Enterprise with 660 posts manage the forest estate. The six month review has lead to a re structure of the country into 5 areas, savings on reduced management and administration, with some offices closing. The three local Woodland Officers will remain. In the north east region, the hub will be York, with offices closing in Rothbury and Hamsterley, but remaining open in Bellingham. The Forest Enterprise division is also re amalgamating areas, from 10 to 6, the heart of the business will remain an Area Forester with his own Beat. The North East is largely unaffected by this as Forest Enterprise areas will still remain based at Bellingham and Dalby, with the Tees Valley estate continuing to be managed through the Dalby office. The restructure does not include an element of sale of assets. The north east region has significantly more public forests than any other region (thanks largely to Kielder), and nationally the FC takes some pride in that they are all managed via design planning active negotiation with local interest groups be they access, timber, or biodiversity. The Independent Panel appointed by the government has been charged with the future management and options of the Forests and the role of the FC. It is clear from the ToR that access must be protected if the forests are to be sold. A preliminary report is due in the autumn and the final report available to the Minister by April 2012. The panel are due to visit Northumberland on the 26 th July 2011. This independent panel is Chaired by the Bishop of Liverpool and have begun a call for submissions. An LAF rep could be invited to that meeting. Some discussion took place regarding the makeup of the panel, the grant budgets for tree planting, the opportunity to influence planning policy, the recent failure of community forests, the protection that should be in place for access should a sale be made, the work presently being undertaken with Groundwork and the Green Infrastructure teams. Steve thought the woods in Redcar & Cleveland, Stockton & Darlington would be sold off; we must be alive to this possibility and know how we are planning to react to this development. One option could be that they would go into Community Trusts.
Action: Brendan agreed to ask the Secretariat and Defra if an invitation could be extended to Northumberland LAF, who agreed to represent the LAF view across the north east. Submissions from each region to be made to Beryl before the end of June. Collated and forwarded to James. Robin thanked Brendan for his presentation. 6. Robin welcomed Mike Ogden, Access & ROW Section Manager, Durham County Council to the meeting to bring the group up to date with Coastal Access. Mike described the status of the project so far. The pilot area extends from Seaton Carew/Teesmouth in the south to South Bents in Sunderland in the north. Presentations have been made by the Natural England team to T&W, Durham and Tees Valley LAFs. Meetings have taken place with major stakeholders including the NFU, CLA, Ramblers, Network Rail, and the National Trust. Key pivotal locations have already been studied looking at issues such as nature conservation and erosion. Later in June there with be three days training for the Natural England Implementation team, and a rep from each local authority should also be there. Walking the course comes next, in conjunction with landowners, deciding on alignment, the route, and identifying possible issues, and will take place at the end of June and the beginning of July. The Durham coastline is largely straightforward as the majority is in public ownership. The Nature Conservation Assessment within Natural England is complete, land ownership has been largely identified, and the historic environment issues are being considered. Implementation is gauged to be within a year; the budgets for the Implementation Works and the Access Officers time are in place. National Trail symbols would be used as way markers, and those local popular and well marketed routes won t be wiped out. The subsequent discussions centred on a number of issues. Higher rights had been discussed previously and it had been agreed to seek inclusion of these wherever possible, but this does not appear to be receiving consideration Andrew Mackintosh undertook the Audit stage and believes that they are recorded where the opportunities exist. The Audit papers were released back
to the local authorities. Mike confirmed that whilst the access was on foot, higher rights were not off the list and could be included where feasible. Other sources of funding could be explored, for example Limestone Landscapes. Durham CC are planning a re structure of the access team, which would effectively make it extremely difficult for the authority to manage its commitments. Action: All agreed, Chair to write to Natural England about higher rights inclusion within the project and copy in Tony Devos the Project Manager for Limestone Landscapes. 7. Regional Roundup The Chairs/Vice Chairs collectively agreed that they were clearer with regard to the gov t structures, that the meetings should have clear outcomes and thought this was an opportune time to be engaging with Natural England and the Forestry Commission. Tyne and Wear Dave Turnbull, the new Vice Chair at Tyne and Wear began his roundup by bringing the meeting s attention to the sad passing of Roy Deane, all agreed he would be missed. Other developments included the planning of a new web site, the survey of a railway line path, two new Vice Chairs, three new Members and interest in the Sustainable Transport Forum. Northumberland The meetings in Northumberland have developed their theme of working with Parish Councils with Corbridge actively seeking advice on new access creation, with a visit to Chillingham Castle to discuss HLS access. Northumberland has two new Vice Chairs. Durham Durham LAF are still attempting to shape policy; they are involved with the Sports & Leisure Strategy, and Planning Policy, the SW Durham Heritage Corridor, and the Mid Durham AAP Railway Paths study. Since CRoW, the County Council has had the opportunity to dedicate land, since then two areas are to be dedicated by Durham CC, which will add to existing access. The new Durham ROWIP is actively planning on enhancing access at the county s second stage growth points in Easington, Bishop Auckland and Newton Aycliffe, using the Access Prioritisation approach. However, the proposed re structure at Durham will affect the LAF effectiveness; as well as the reduction in rights of way staff there is no
administrative support. All partnership working will be affected if the restructure takes place. Action: It was agreed that the Vice Chair would draft a letter to all local authorities stressing the need for continued support for access teams. North York Moors As the Chair or the Vice Chair also attend the Yorkshire and Humberside Regional LAF meetings they are unlikely to attend the North East meetings, but will continue interest in the work of the north east Regional Forum and ask Steve to act as their contact. Developments included the National Park cuts of 30%, the withdrawal of funding from North Yorkshire County Council for Rights of Way and the Moorsbus, the closing of Osmotherly YHA, and proposals from cycling groups in West Yorkshire to change the status of all routes to allow cycling this had received support from Horseriders as it would create multi user routes. All interest groups were said to be taking note. Redcar and Cleveland Three highlights were discussed; half the Guisborough Forest is leasehold which would have implications for protecting access if sold, the Walkers are Welcome project with RDP funding providing a set of leaflets. No contact made by coastal access team. Tees Valley Recent developments included the Middlesbrough ROWIP, Hartlepool involvement with the Coastal Access pilot, the Landscape Partnership Bid with Groundwork and Stockton on Tees Borough Council, and the Friends Group currently being developed. (It was suggested that North Pennines AONB may provide a steer for this project.) 8. Any Other Business Dave Turnbull offered access to the Ramblers coastal access audit. Geoff Hughes re iterated the strength of the regional group, and endorsed a joint view on regional issues. Redcar & Cleveland alluded to the high cost of advertising Orders, and Durham agreed. The legislation would have to change to alter this position. 9. Date and time of next meeting Action: Chair suggested 6 months hence, and all agreed to the Dolphin Centre location. Beryl to call the meeting.